The mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, along with the Future of Fifth Partnership, announced plans to transform Fifth Avenue, between Bryant Park and Central Park, into a pedestrian-centered boulevard. The project includes expanding sidewalks by 46%, reducing traffic lanes, improving pedestrian safety with shorter crosswalks, and adding greenery and lighting. The initiative begun with the Future of Fifth public-private partnership, which selected Arcadis, Sam Schwartz Engineering, and Field Operations to lead the design and study, and schematic design, scheduled to be completed by summer 2025.
Fifth Avenue currently spans 100 feet, originally consisting of five lanes for vehicular traffic and two 23-foot sidewalks. Despite pedestrians accounting for 70 percent of traffic, the sidewalks occupy only 46 percent of the space. With each block accommodating around 5,500 pedestrians per hour on average, and up to 23,000 during holiday seasons, the current setup struggles to manage this foot traffic volume. This challenge is exacerbated by the pedestrian space being further reduced by street infrastructure such as signage, bus stops, lighting, and trash cans.
The redesigned Fifth Avenue nearly doubles sidewalk width to 33.5 feet on each side, providing 25 feet of unobstructed walking space and an additional 8.5-foot segment for trees. This configuration reduces crossing distances by over a third, enhancing pedestrian safety. The upgrade includes over 230 new trees and 20,000 square feet of planters, integrating new seating areas, activation spaces, and improved lighting. Additionally, greening initiatives will offer shade and innovative stormwater infrastructure to mitigate flooding.
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New York City Architecture Guide: Discover 10 Must-See Landmarks and 20 Contemporary AttractionsFifth Avenue's significant role in New York City's economy is underscored by its contribution of 313,000 direct and indirect jobs. This redesign initiative hopes to continue and strengthen this role by creating a more welcoming urban environment. This continues a previous initiative, the 2022 Holiday Open Streets program, which restricted vehicle access on 11 blocks and encouraged pedestrian zones. It resulted in an estimated $3 million increase in spending along pedestrianized streets, with businesses experiencing a 6.6 percent rise in spending compared to non-pedestrianized areas, further demonstrating the avenue's robust economic potential.
Right now, 70 percent of the people on Fifth Avenue are pedestrians, but they can only utilize less than half the space. On the holidays, that's 23,000 people every hour — 4,000 more than a packed Madison Square Garden — cramming like sardines into constrained sidewalks. That makes no sense — so we're going to flip the script. We're nearly doubling walkable sidewalk space, adding hundreds of new trees and planters, installing new seating and activation space, and so much more. - New York City Mayor Eric Adams
In other related news, New York City has recently reopened the controversial Vessel at Hudson Yards, after introducing additional safety measures. The city also recently announced the installation of + POOL, a floating swimming pool equipped with an innovative water filtration system, at Pier 35 in New York's East River.
