City To Permanently Change Inwood Two-Way Streets To One-Way

INWOOD, NY — The city will begin work this month to alter traffic patterns on two parallel streets in Inwood, Department of Transportation officials announced.

West 219th and 220th streets will be changed from two-way traffic to one-way traffic between Broadway and Ninth Avenue. According to the new traffic patterns, cars will drive west on West 219th Street and east on West 220th Street, city officials said. West 219th and 220th streets are two of the northern-most streets in Manhattan.

The directional changes will also required the city to make some changes to surrounding streets such as closing off a center median opening at West 219th and Broadway, banning left turns from West 219th Street and re-striping the southbound lanes of Broadway at West 220th Street to including a dedicated left-turn only lane.

The goal of the traffic redesign is to improve safety and reduce congestion in the area, according to city officials. Both roads only span one city block and are not major corridors, which means their current status as two-way streets is unusual compared to the majority of Manhattan's grid.

The city did not say when work on the project is expected to conclude.