Long Island City Streets Close To Cars To Aid Social Distancing

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — The city added two Long Island City streets to its network of roadways being closed to traffic to give New Yorkers more room to follow social-distancing rules.

Starting Thursday, local NYPD officers will enforce street closures from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on 5th Street between 46th and 49th Avenues and on 27th Street between Queens Plaza South and Hunter Street, the mayor's office announced Wednesday.

The city is also opening portions of Skillman Avenue, 46th Street and 39th Avenue in nearby Sunnyside.

The roadways are among 40 miles of streets that the city will open to pedestrians and cyclists this month to allow for greater social distancing during the outbreak of the new coronavirus, officials say.

Vehicle traffic along the selected streets is limited to local deliveries, pick-ups/drop-offs and necessary city service, utility and emergency vehicles. Those drivers must go no faster than 5 mph.

Court Square West, the dead-end street that runs alongside Court Square Park next to the Long Island City courthouse, was the first in the neighborhood to be added to the city's open-streets program.

Mayor Bill de Blasio spent weeks resisting calls from local officials and advocates to pedestrianize streets.

At the beginning of April, the mayor canceled a pilot program that pedestrianized four short stretches of road across the city, saying that the streets were underused and needed too many police officers to enforce the closures.

He ultimately signed on to the open-streets plan after City Council Speaker Corey Johnson warned he would bypass City Hall and get the state's help to make it happen.