NYC’s car-free, pedestrian-friendly ‘Summer Streets’ program to expand to all five boroughs in July

Michael Gartland, New York Daily News
Updated ·2 min read
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New York City will expand its Summer Streets program next month with a plan to double the amount of car-free, pedestrian-friendly space to 20 miles.

The expansion, which will encompass all five boroughs and runs through August, will extend in Manhattan up to 125th St. along Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. and will include stretches of Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, Vernon Blvd. in Queens, the Grand Concourse in the Bronx and Richmond Terrace on Staten Island.

Mayor Adams announced the launch of the expanded program Monday morning in Long Island City, Queens.

“I hope this is not lost on people. We did not go to the small, dead-end block and say, ‘Let’s open it and be just symbolic.’ We went to Eastern Parkway. We went to the grandest concourse in the Bronx, the Grand Concourse,” Adams said. “We’re going after the large places where people are going to be able to walk and to really congregate together.”

The program, which first launched in 2008, was put on hold for a year during the pandemic, but was back and running last year and in 2021. Last year, more than 500,000 people took part in the program, which included free bicycle repairs and bike-riding lessons.

This year, it will result in 20 miles of streets being closed off to cars at various points during the summer, a prospect some motorists might not be too keen on, especially when it comes to major thoroughfares like Eastern Parkway.

The mayor didn’t seem too worried about such concerns, though, and said he hopes Summer Streets will encourage drivers to use mass transit, get on a bike or walk instead of getting behind the wheel.

“I’m surprised how many people don’t get on our subways and see how wonderful it is. Even some of our citywide leaders, I don’t know if they’ve been on the train for a long time. I’m on the train often. It’s a great way to move around the city,” Adams said.

“They may go out and say, ‘Let me take them up on learning how to ride a bike in three hours.’ They’re going to learn the exercising that comes with riding a bike. And they’re going to do something revolutionary: They’re going to walk.”