Longtime Envisioned Redesign of Midtown’s 5th Avenue Corridor Moves Forward
Plans to transform New York City’s 5th Avenue corridor between Bryant Park and Central Park were recently unveiled by Mayor Eric Adams and the Future of Fifth Partnership — a public-private partnership launched in 2022 between the city, the Fifth Avenue Association, the Grand Central Partnership, the Bryant Park Corp, and the Central Park Conservancy. The announcement of the project that will be the first major redesign in the avenue’s 200-year history is expected to break ground in 2028; and reportedly comes about four years since a concept of it was initially envisioned during the height of the pandemic when “then-Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the city would install a busway corridor — meaning nearly all private vehicle traffic would be banned — to help the commutes of 110,000 daily riders, one of five [busways] planned for commercial districts, in order to move essential workers more efficiently.” However, upon reviving the plan, Adams eliminated the controversial busway. The current proposal will expand the sidewalks along the corridor by 46 percent, shorten crosswalks making for safer crossings, reduce the number of traffic lanes from five to three, and add plantings and lighting for aesthetics and safety according to the press release by the Mayor’s Office. It has been projected that the estimated $350 million redesign will pay for itself in less than five years through increased property and sales tax revenue. Currently, about 70% of the people on 5th Avenue are pedestrians, but existing sidewalks only account for 45 percent of the space. On an average day, each block serves approximately 5,500 pedestrians an hour — and on the holidays, up to 23,000 people every hour. A longtime “economic powerhouse for New York City, 5th Avenue is responsible for 313,000 direct and indirect jobs, which in turn generates $44.1 billion in total wages and $111.5 billion in total economic output each year according to the mayor’s press release. Further fueling the importance of the project and its anticipated economic impact is the success of the 2022 Holiday Opens Streets initiative on 5th Avenue, which closed 11 blocks to vehicle traffic between 12:00 PM and 6:00 PM on three Sundays in December. Research by Mastercard found that the pedestrianized streets drove an estimated $3 million in additional spending, with merchants on Open Streets seeing a 6.6 percent increase in spending over similar blocks that were not opened to pedestrians.