By Gus Saltonstall
The six-week repaving of the drives in Central Park will begin next week, in preparation for the larger planned redesign of the park’s six-mile loop road.
New York City Department of Transportation crews will conduct the work during weeknights from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m., with no work expected to take place on the weekends.
The work will happen in segments, with milling of the drives planned for Monday through Wednesday nights and paving to follow on Thursday and Friday nights. For those who are unfamiliar, milling is the process of removing the top layer of asphalt to then allow it to be repaved. This schedule means that there will be no unpaved roadway segments on the weekends.
The drives will not close at any point during this construction, but the city says that bikers and pedestrians should use caution when moving along milled sections, which are bumpy, as they have not been repaved yet.
Here is the repaving schedule for the Central Park drives starting on March 17.
Crew 1
- Week of 3/17: West 96th to West 90th streets
- Week of 3/24: West 90th to West 83rd streets
- Week of 3/31: West 83rd to West 76th streets
- Week of 4/7: West 76th to West 72nd streets
- Week of 4/14: West 72nd to West 65th streets
- Week of 4/28: West 65th Street to Center Drive
Crew 2
- Week of 3/17: 6th Ave to Center Drive
- Week of 3/24: Grand Army Plaza to East Drive
- Week of 3/31: East 64th to East 71st streets
- Week of 4/7: East 71st Street to Terrace Drive
- Week of 4/14: East 72nd to East 85th streets
- Week of 4/28: East 85th to East 90th streets
Temporary signs will be installed throughout the park to remind people of the ongoing construction.
Bear in mind that the schedule is weather permitting, and consistent rain would delay the work.
In terms of the larger redesign of the Central Park drives, none of the installation of the proposed new lanes or signage will take place during this six-week process. The re-striping of the road and crosswalks “will happen following the repaving,” according to the city, which did not specify a timeline outside of “this spring.”
The Department of Transportation said it will take advantage of the repaving to redesign the Park loop this spring to:
- Allocate space consistently across the drives for different user groups to more clearly delineate an inner pedestrian lane.
- Better separate pedestrians from cyclists and other higher-speed users.
- Modify signals to clearly designate them for cyclists to improve compliance.
- Better direct pedestrians to the historic archways to reduce conflicts on the drives.
“With cars now permanently banned from Central Park drives, today’s repaving announcement is welcome news for pedestrians and bicyclists alike,” Congressman Jerry Nadler said in a news release.
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The bike fast and faster lanes do nothing to protect people trying to cross the drive. Either the rules must be enforced, or the pedestrian crossings should be enhanced while forcing bicycles into bottlenecks to slow them down and allow the elderly and the disabled to cross safely. It’s currently far too dangerous, and this plan does nothing to make things safer!
Ridiculous that they are making wider e-bike lanes to accommodate e bikers, and taking away traffic lights these changes will only make pedestrians less safe! E bikes should not even be allowed on park drive since cars are not allowed. These bike continue to create more dangers for pedestrians and regular pedal bikers. And btw when are the Conservancy and the city going to repair all the walkways which are covered in dangerous pot holes all through CP!
Can you explain what the numbers represent (presumably park sections, but where?) in the photo?
Yes, they correspond to sections/segments in the park designated by width and location.
Page 23 in the report below has the corresponding loop map.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/assets.centralparknyc.org/media/documents/FINAL-Drives-Report_2024.10.21-2.pdf
There is no reason to do this project. The roads are absolutely fine for biking. What a waste of money.
thanks the usual NYC whiners who need to be catered to like babies
Since everyone in the comments so far seems to be complaining…
I run, I’m a cyclist, and I like these changes. Path width for walking & running is at least kept on par with current conditions, and substantially expanded in places. The space set aside for primary cycling use is narrowed slightly some places but is still entirely adequate.
The outside lane no longer exists in a gray area but is entirely understood to be a place for faster cycling.
Only thing I’ll observe is that there’s now a 1′ buffer between the running/ped lane and the slower bike lane in all redesigned places, but I *bet* runners will tend to run on the buffer and treat it as an extension of the ped space. Which might be __slight…ly__ annoying but I’ll deal with it.
This is stupid! What REALLY needs to be paved most urgently is the sidewalks of the transverses. They are in horrific condition, causing people to stumble, possibly into traffic. These sidewalks have not been paved for DECADES!! Why do the Parks Dept., DOT and the Conservancy continue to allow these dangerous conditions?
Pave the transverse sidewalks before anything else. No other part of the park has been more neglected for as long a time!
I have never understood why anyone would walk the transverse instead of through the park. You are walking through a tunnel of pollution rather than the cleaner air of the park. Can someone enlighten me?
Safer way to cross the park late at night.
Those paths are for both walking and biking (I would NEVER bike ON the transverse road; I’ve heard of WAY too many incidents). So it is unsafe for walkers, but also for bikes. And the reason I use it simple: fewer hills; the transverse is (mostly) a straight road with only a few “gentle” hills. Much easier to ride.
I ride the transverses daily – on the road. The last time I tried the sidewalk, on the 97th transverse, my front wheel caught a slit in the concrete and flipped me over the handlebars. No injuries, just a banged up helmet and dirty clothes, but after that I kept off the sidewalks. Yeah, they need to be fixed. But is it actually legal to ride on those sidewalks?
Before moving to NYC in the early 90’s, I was advised to stay out of the park because it was dangerous. This led to my first and last time using the traverse as a way to cross town. Tourists are the primary users of the traverses because the signage within the park is so poorly executed.
YES YES YES! I just sent in a comment about this and then saw yours.
It is APPALLING –and dangerous. I wouldn’t be surprised if rides on this transverse cause miscarriages. I have seen people get INJURED on crosstown buses.
Why won’t the Parks Dept. or any other agency DO something??? How can we force them to pay attention???
When will the $150 million new Lasker Pool open? I really loved the old one and wish they had preserved that.
What about the crosstown roads on 86th, 79th and 72nd?? Driving from west to east and east to west is absolutely crazy, it feels like riding on an ancient rocky horsetrail in Kentucky. The bumps are violent! It’s awful! The buses are positively dangerous on those roads. I have seen more than one passenger literally thrown from their seats. It is dangerous! And nobody complains. I don’t know where our tax dollars are going, but they certainly are not being used for road repairs. I just don’t understand.
The drives don’t end at 96 th Street. Why doesn’t the repaving extend to 110 th Street?
Total a waste of money! Worse, putting the bike fast line on the outside is idiotic. This forces pedestrians to step into the fast lane of bike traffic which is even more dangerous for both the cyclist and the pedestrian. A cyclist barreling down on a pedestrian at 20+ mph is an accident waiting to happen. This especially true at a crosswalk near a curve with limited vision, like E97th St., where a cyclist in the outside lane can’t see pedestrians crossing until it’s nearly too late. At least in the current setup there is a buffer lane, and the smarter cyclists stay out of the outside lane, so they have time to maneuver or stop. Why are we actually spending money to make things worse??
Shane on Central Park for bring more traffic – esxooters . This plan will discourage more walking and cycling. Escooters dont beling in parks. Stop donating to sell out central park conservancy