De Blasio Announces 13 More Miles of Open Streets, Making NYC the Nation’s Leader (Finally!)

The city will add 13 more miles of open streets this weekend, bringing the five boroughs up to more than 44 miles of temporary car-free streets and protected bike lanes — the most in the nation, Mayor de Blasio boasted on Friday.

The new roadways include another 1.8 miles that will be opened up and managed by “local partners” such as business improvement districts; 2.7 miles adjacent to parks; and 8.8 miles managed by the NYPD, which has been inconsistent in its oversight of the majority of the existing 21 miles of open streets, as Streetsblog reported.

The latest streets, which will be opened up in time for the Memorial Day weekend, the mayor said, bring to about 33 miles of open streets, plus nine miles of temporary protected bike lanes announced previously.

“This now means we now have more miles of operational open streets … than anyplace in this nation,” de Blasio said, praising his administration for finding “a model that works.” The “model” comment is a reference to criticism de Blasio received earlier in the coronavirus crisis for refusing to create open streets, mocking other cities that did, and insisting that he could not do so because he needed a large deployment of NYPD officers (a position lampooned by Streetsblog)

But that’s all in the past. Today’s announcement includes the following new streets:

New roadways adjacent to parks:

New roadways overseen by the NYPD:

New roadways with local partners:

The new space broadens the reach of open streets, which several groups have said have not been created in an equitable manner.