America’s most famous street is now closed to cars right at the spot where it enters America’s most famous urban plaza. That’s right, Broadway in Times Square now belongs to pedestrians. To see how New York City’s newest public space was shaping up in the midst of its first official rush hour, I took a stroll along the thoroughfare at 7:30 this morning.
As predicted by the city department of transportation, traffic was moving, even though heavy flow of cars that used to come down Broadway had all been redirected onto Seventh Ave. I asked a cop standing at intersection what his assessment was. “So far, so good,” he said.
Curiously, there were no cyclists on the paths or otherwise using any of this vast new space. Maybe word hadn’t gotten around yet? Well, funnily enough, about 30 seconds later some fast-moving thing hit me from behind. The force of it almost knocked me down, and when I looked up, some guy was riding away without even a look back over his shoulder. I realized I must have meandered into the bicycle lane and even though the cyclist seemed to have been riding the wrong direction, he had apparently decided a good stiff forearm to the upper back was the best response under the circumstances. As the neon sign overhead says: I <3 NY!
Aggressive cyclist who hit me with a hard forearm
The reclaimed street space has been unconvincingly staked out with several hundred folding beach chairs (store tags still on) and flimsy tables. They look so temporary — like a strong gust of wind blowing down the urban canyons might just send them all flying away like so many tumbleweeds. The only people making use of them at this hour are three DOT workers in orange vests who are kicking back, chatting and reading the morning paper.
Beach chairs on Broadway
Even at this early there are lots of tourists wandering around. The epicenter of tourist activity is a bizarre stage set constructed by ABC’s Good Morning America, occupying what had been two or three three lanes of Broadway traffic. Around the set are hundreds of people are lined up behind metal barricades, waiting to interact with several people wearing red ball-shaped costumes. There are also full-sized cardboard standees of various celebrity chicks in bikinis and other people are perusing those. A middle-aged woman stands at the barricade and snaps photos of a very ordinary-looking speaker.
ABC doing something ridiculous but of apparent interest to tourists. Acclaimed NYC eatery Bubba Gump's Shrimp House in background.
The disembodied soundtrack for this new Broadway is the ABC morning show. When I arrive, the hosts are–as luck would have it–discussing the closure of Broadway. One of the banterers–iconic NYC weatherman Sam Champion, I think–expresses skepticism. “What, do you hate parks or something?” shoots back one of his fellow hosts. The Champion-guy tries to argue that midtown is congested already and this will make it worse. But nobody on the show is having any of it. “Go to the country if you don’t like traffic,” quips someone else. It’s an old fashioned pile-on–everyone else is fully supportive of the Broadway scheme and Champion-guy soon shuts up.
Lady taking pictures of perfectly ordinary speaker
It’s nice to see the bleached smile set on board with Broadway as public space, but is the project actually working yet? Well, no, not yet. It’s got the temporary feeling of a street fair to it now. There needs to be some installation that establishes it an arrangement that’s going to last longer than a few days. The beach chairs don’t do that and the orange traffic barrels feel like a tissue thin barrier against the surrounding traffic. Of course, the closure is just in a trial stage right now. But Bloomberg isn’t making a final decision until December, and there should be a robust effort to make it feel permanent in the meantime. Leaving it as is might weaken support for the larger project, which would be a shame. 
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The only other cyclist I spot on Broadway has to walk his bike because of ped traffic
Traffic on Seventh Ave flowing well at rush hour. Score one for Janette Sadik-Khan.
Will Broadway remain closed to cars? The 8-ball says, "The future is hazy" -- but let's hope so.
All pics are by me.
Tags: FIELD TRIP
Traffic is probably light today because people are avoiding Times Square like the plague assuming it will be gridlocked. Once they see how much less congested it is they’ll return and we’ll get a better idea of what the new traffic flow will really be like–which I assume will be just as busy as before but with a more efficient flow.
I think this an idea worth trying, but there’s one thing that perplexes me about it – especially if they make all of Broadway a pedestrian mall. What are they going to do with the buses? This isn’t much of an issue in midtown, where the grid rules and there’s plenty of wide streets. But downtown, there are a lot of buses that use Broadway to go southbound during the PM rush, and there’s really no street nearby to route them on. You could put them on West Street or Water Street, but that’s pretty inefficient, as those street are on the edges of Manhattan island, whereas Broadway is in the middle.
I’m sure there is a way around this, but it is definitely a concern – especially for commuters in the further reaches of the outer boroughs, who use these buses – and I fear it will not be addressed. ‘Course I’m talking pretty far into the future here….
Vin,
That’s a really good point. Since we don’t really know the scope of the eventual plan it’s just speculation — but I would actually guess that the southern reaches of B’way would stay open. Shutting it below Canal would get rather dicey. Would suspect that or Houston might be the resumption?
Likewise, far uptown there might be a very strong case for keeping it open.
JR
I’m glad this is getting a fair shake. People always think that fewer roads = more traffic when in fact it works the other way around. The fact is, few if any-body has any business driving in Manhattan. The City doesn’t exist to make their trips easier.
I agree that closing ALL of Bway makes no sense. At most, I could see Lincoln Center to Union Square – and that’s a major leap. The catch is that right now the argument is that by eliminating 3-way intersections you improve traffic. OK, I’ll be willing to buy that. But for many other stretches of Bway that isn’t the case, so in those areas they are just park-making for the sake of park-making, which is a different sort of sell.
I also think the NYTimes had a point this morning – a lot depends on what kind of places get created. Lounging on a traffic median is nobody’s idea of fun.
I am glad for NYC that they are trying this. I predict it will not only be successful, but with time the locals will prefer the space for pedestrians over walking. Obviously every intersection can’t be shut down to traffic, but what are some of the ideas for implementing this more widespread? I saw a short film which highlighted one intersection that NYC had redone that included installing a small plaza in one corner.
One idea maybe not to shut traffic out completely but limit it down to one lane and only allow buses and emergency vehicles. A small roundabout in the center with a nice size truck apron, would allow free flow of emergency and bus traffic, but not require the stop lights as well as not impede pedestrians “total” access to the space.
Just an idea.
Keep it up NYC, you are helping the rest of our cities learn how to do it!
There’s improving traffic and then there’s improving it. Cambridge, MA just did away with an intersection (Lafayette Square) that merged Main Street and Mass Ave. Main Street now ends in a tight left turn where it meets Mass Ave at a right angle. It made space for a very nice pedestrian plaza (though not a pedestrian street), and it slowed down traffic on Main Street considerably, but while Main is slower, it doesn’t jam up any more.
Rockfish: I was thinking Columbus Circle to Union Square, which is more or less the same. Most of the public transit and vehicular traffic on Broadway could be routed to nearby streets in that part of Manhattan. Further uptown, as Jeb points out, you get problems, as the island narrows and Central Park creates less space. South of 14th Street the grid starts to break down, and many of the parallel streets are not well-equipped to be arterial north-south thoroughfares.
And, Jeb – I definitely wouldn’t shut it south of Houston, and I would probably leave it open to Union Square. South of Canal would be pretty much impossible, you’re right. Though the grid technically starts at Houston, it really doesn’t begin to make sense until 14th, as anyone who has ever walked the length of West 4th Street has found out. I think the whole plan is really contingent upon traffic being able to easily use parallel streets. South of 14th, this is not necessarily the case.
I’m less familiar with uptown, but I say in my previous comment, I’m inclined to leave it open north of Columbus Circle.
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This is annoying and makes no sense. If traffic is the issue, why not keep traffic lights sustained a little longer discouraging taxi drivers to drive through the area?
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Yeah, it’ll be really great in the winter and when it rains.