Give My Regards to Broadway — On Foot
The Great White Way is going pedestrian only — or at least parts of it are. In an effort to eliminate traffic snarls caused by Broadway’s diagonal bisection of midtown Manhattan’s grid layout, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is shutting down key sections of the street and turning it into a pedestrian zone.
The shut-down begins on Memorial Day and is planned to run through the end of 2009 — and perhaps become permanent thereafter if all goes well. For the heavily congested Time Square area, this will be a blessing for visitors on foot. Navigating over-crowded Broadway sidewalks in Times Square between 42nd and 47th streets will soon be a much easier proposition. Similarly, Herald Square further South (the area around 34th Street) will also be reserved for pedestrians.
The city is not stopping at simply shutting the streets and taking down the railings. It further plans to add benches and tables to allow people to enjoy their new found elbow room.
So starting the Memorial Day, enjoy the extra room and take your New York City Explorer Pass along for the walk as you visit a number of attractions that will be in or adjacent to the new pedestrian zone such as Madame Tussauds, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, and a tour of Madison Square Garden. To see the Department of Transportation’s graphics of what the changes will look like, go to their site for links to images for both Times Square and Herald Square.
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