NYC plans to open midtown streets to pedestrians for holiday season
New York City plans to open streets around Rockefeller Center to pedestrians between 11 a.m. and midnight daily during the upcoming holidays.
Credit: Craig Ruttle
Pedestrians looking to take in the holiday sights in Manhattan may soon get more space to stroll.
The city plans to temporarily curb vehicle use from several streets around Rockefeller Center and along Fifth Avenue to help alleviate crowding during the holiday season and spur business, Mayor Eric Adams’ office said Monday.
With the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree on Nov. 30, the city will start using movable barriers to close — or partially close — the streets around Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall to vehicles, the mayor’s office said in a news release. Pedestrians will have access to West 49th Street and West 50th Street, between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue, from 11 a.m. to midnight daily, the release said.
Meanwhile, walkers along the Fifth Avenue corridor between 48th Street and 59th Street will have full access to the streets on Dec. 3, 10 and 17, between noon and 6 p.m., among other moves designed to allow pedestrians greater room to roam.
The expanding of accommodations to walkers during the holiday season, part of the effort called Open Streets, comes after last year’s program proved beneficial to businesses, netting them an estimated $3 million, according to a study that MasterCard did in partnership with the city.
The program also comes amid a push to “permanently reimagine Fifth Avenue as a safer, less congested, pedestrian-centered boulevard,” the release stated.
“I felt the energy walking down the middle of Fifth Avenue last year — it was electric,” Adams said in the release. “And as we get excited for more of the same this December, we’re moving full speed ahead on permanently reimagining Fifth Avenue, so people can have this incredible experience every day of the year.”
Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine said in the statement that Fifth Avenue’s future is bright “beyond this holiday season.”
“I’m looking forward to working with all local stakeholders as we re-envision this world-renowned corridor,” Levine said.
Education: Howard University
Tiffany Cusaac-Smith came to Newsday in 2023 after being a race and history reporter at USA TODAY, where she wrote enterprise and spot articles examining how the past shapes the present. Previously, she worked as the race and justice reporter at the USA TODAY Network of New York, covering issues such as criminal justice reform, housing, environmental justice, health care and politics. At The Journal News/lohud.com in Westchester County, she covered Yonkers, the state's third-largest city. She also worked at The Associated Press in Atlanta.
Honors and Awards: Criminal justice reporting fellowship with the National Press Foundation; New York News Publishers Association award for distinguished investigative reporting; Contributed reporting for Best of Gannett honor; Member of Table Stakes, a program funded by the Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund and managed by the American Press Institute to transform local news.
