Cyclists Suggest Car-Free Cunningham Park For Social Distancing

OAKLAND GARDENS, QUEENS — Street safety and cycling advocates want the city to close Cunningham Park to traffic so New Yorkers have more room to spread out when they go outside.

Advocates with Bike New York and Transportation Alternatives say the city should prohibit cars from using 73rd Avenue and Francis Lewis Boulevard within Cunningham Park.

The suggestions are on a list released Monday of dozens of city streets that the groups say should become pedestrian- and cyclist-only spaces to help New Yorkers adhere to social-distancing requirements in a statewide stay-at-home order that went into effect Sunday.

The streets could be closed to all cars except emergency vehicles, the organizations said.

"As we heard Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio say this weekend, New York City's parks and sidewalks are filled with people trying to get some exercise and fresh air — so full that it is proving difficult to adhere to social distancing guidelines in some places," Transportation Alternatives Executive Director Danny Harris and Bike New York Director of Communications Jon Orcutt said in a joint statement Monday.

The list, which the groups sent to the city's Department of Transportation, comes after Gov. Andrew Cuomo asked city officials to come up with a plan to reduce the "wholly inappropriate" density he said was rampant this weekend in New York City.

Cuomo suggested closing city streets to traffic to give New Yorkers more space to spread out, but he said he would leave that decision up to local officials.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has so far resisted enacting street closures, saying that it would require increased enforcement: "We’re only going to do that when we have a clear plan and clear enforcement in place," he said during a news conference Sunday.

Bike New York and Transportation Alternatives said on Monday they could mobilize their "corps of volunteers" to help keep the streets clear.

Here's a full list of their suggestions:

• Zones around hospitals, with vehicular access only for emergency vehicles and hospital staff
• The New York City Marathon route
• Streets routinely closed for Summer Streets and the annual Car-Free Day
• NYC Street Fair Routes (2020 calendar here)
• Streets with robust block associations and histories of block parties
• Streets typically closed as part of the Play Streets program
• Streets in neighborhoods not within walking distance of a park (map here)

Streets that lack directly adjacent commercial or residential land uses:

• 73rd Avenue and Francis Lewis Boulevard within Cunningham Park
• Forest Park Drive
• 164th Street within Kissena Park
• Shore Boulevard within Astoria Park
• Crotona Avenue and Claremont Avenue within Crotona Park
• Jackie Robinson Parkway
• East Fordham Road between the New York Botanical Garden and the Bronx Zoo
• Mosholu Parkway in Van Cortlandt Park
• Bay Street in Red Hook
• Lorimer Street within McCarren Park
• Margaret Corbin Drive within Fort Tryon Park
• Roadways within Latourette Park

Patch editor Anna Quinn contributed reporting.