Future plans unveiled to redesign Fifth Avenue into pedestrian-centered boulevard

ByEyewitness News

Friday, October 18, 2024

Future plans unveiled to transform Fifth Avenue into pedestrian-centered boulevard

Sonia Rincon has more on the Fifth Avenue redesign project.

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- The future vision to redesign Fifth Avenue was unveiled on Thursday.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams along with the Future of Fifth Partnership announced the city's plans to transform the street into a world-class, pedestrian-centered boulevard.

The design includes expanding sidewalks by 46%, shortening crosswalks making for safer crossings, reducing the number of traffic lanes from five to three and adding plantings and lighting for aesthetics and safety.

Right now, 70% of the people on Fifth Avenue are pedestrians, but they can only utilize less than half the space," Adams said. "On the holidays, that's 23,000 people every hour - 4,000 more than a packed MSG - cramming like sardines into constrained sidewalks. That makes no sense - so we're going to flip the script."

Fifth Avenue currently is 100-feet wide and comprised of five lanes of vehicular traffic and two 23-foot sidewalks. The new design nearly doubles the width of the sidewalks to 33.5 feet each, and expands unobstructed walking space to 25 feet on each side while adding another 8.5-foot-wide section for trees.

"By dramatically widening the sidewalks of Fifth Avenue, we'll be creating a much more welcoming and comfortable pedestrian experience along this iconic corridor," said New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez.

But not everyone is for the new plan, like for-hire driver Jose Mercado.

"What they're doing is just making everything worse," he said.

Mercado drives business people along a choked Fifth Avenue every day and says other avenues that have gotten wider sidewalks are now miserably slow.

"And we have to drive very aggressive to get faster any place that we have to go, and that's the only way," he said.

Another group that might not be thrilled are cyclists. The plan doesn't make room for a dedicated bike lane, but will widen the one on Sixth Avenue to squeeze in a two-way bike lane.

The plan -- expected to cost over $350 million -- also marks the first time in the avenue's 200-year history it will have a major redesign.

Once completed, the project is expected to pay for itself in less than five years through increased property and sales tax revenue. It's expected to be completed by 2028.