Cars To Be Banned In Central Park, Mayor Says

CENTRAL PARK, NY — Cars will be banned from Central Park this summer, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Friday during a press conference in the park.

"This was park was not built for automobiles. It was not the purpose of this park to be a place for automobiles. Literally, it was built before their were automobiles," de Blasio said Friday. "It was built for people."

Starting June 27, cars will be banned from roads below 72nd Street that are currently shared by vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians, de Blasio said. These "loop" roads include West Drive, Center Drive, East Drive and Terrace Drive.

These roads currently support about 350 cars traveling northbound and 500 cars traveling southbound at peak hours, Department of Transportation Commission Polly Trottenberg told reporters.

The car ban will be instituted in full from day 1, de Blasio said. A similar process to remove cars from Prospect Park in Brooklyn was first instituted as a trial before a full ban.

The large transverse roads that carry crosstown traffic through the park will be exempt from the ban, city officials said. The closure of the loop roads is not expected to contribute to increased congestion on the transverses, Trottenberg said.

The new ban will make Central Park's inner roads completely car free except for NYPD and maintenance vehicles. The Department of Parks will continue to study how it can both reduce the number of its own vehicles in Central Park and deploy a more park-friendly fleet of vehicles, Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver told reporters.

Horse carriages and pedicabs will also continue to utilize the loop roads after June 27, city officials said.

The ban on cars in Central Park will improve air quality and make parkgoers safer, city officials said Friday.

"Central Park is not just one of New York’s favorite parks — it’s one of the most-beloved, most-recognized parks in the entire world. Now, we’re making history by demonstrating just how clean, accessible, and safe an urban park can be," Silver said.

The mission to make Central Park free of cars began in 1960 at the urging of Mayor John Lindsay, city officials said Friday. Cars were banned from roads above 72nd Street in 2015 and each year has seen a decreased number of cars traveling through the park, officials said.

Photo by Helmut Meyer zur Capellen/imageBROKER/REX/Shutterstock