A big thing happened this past week in my part of lower Manhattan where I live and work.
Fourteenth Street was closed to cars between 6am and 10pm except for “local traffic.” Basically if you are in a car during those hours, you can go for up to a block, but no more than that.
It is remarkable to see the transformation of Fourteenth Street, a street I walk down multiple times a day going to and from work.
I took that photo around 11am today. The street is empty. The only thing you notice is the buses going from the East River to the Hudson in something like ten minutes, a trip that used to take more than thirty minutes.
This only happened because the L train subway line, which goes under Fourteenth Street, was supposed to close for 18 months for tunnel repairs. They figured out how to keep the L train running but on a reduced schedule. But they went ahead with the Fourteenth Street closure anyway.
It is my hope that this will turn out to be a massive success and will lead to closure of other cross streets like 23rd, 34th, 42nd, 57th, 79th, 86th, and 96th.
It could be transformative for the cross town buses and a lot more too.
We need to find ways of getting around our city that don’t require cars. The closure of Fourteenth Street is a big step in that direction.
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Fred Wilson, Khareem Sudlow
