City Opens More Streets For Pedestrians In Harlem

HARLEM, NY — New York City is banning cars from another set of city streets on Saturday to give New Yorkers more space to safely spend time outside ahead of Memorial Day, and four of Harlem streets are included, city officials said.

Portions of West 117th Street, West 138th Street, West 143rd Street and Morningside Avenue will be included in the open streets program through partnerships with local business groups, police precincts and the Parks Department, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday. In total, the new openings in Harlem represent just over 1 mile of street space.

"New Yorkers deserve space to safely enjoy the outdoors in their own neighborhoods," de Blasio said Friday. "Thanks to hard work from a host of City agencies, we’ve beaten our Open Streets goal for this month – and made our city a national leader in expanding public space as we fight COVID-19."

The longest new stretch of open street space in Harlem will be a .7 mile stretch of West 117th Street between Morningside and Fifth avenues. The five-block stretch creates a long open street that leads directly to Morningside Park. A stretch of Morningside Avenue will also be pedestrianized from Manhattan Avenue to West 116th Street, practically connecting the open streets.

The two other new open streets are located on West 138th Street between Lenox Avenue and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and along Charles Young Playgroung on West 143rd Street between Malcolm X Boulevard and Fifth Avenue.

The city is pedestrianizing 40 miles of streets across the five boroughs this month, with the eventual goal to open as much as 100 miles of streets to help New Yorkers spend time outdoors while remaining at a safe distance from others. Mayor Bill de Blasio reached an agreement on open streets with the City Council — which was pushing a plan to force the city to pedestrianize streets — in late April.

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