Private Cars Officially Banned From Central Park

CENTRAL PARK, NY — A 1960s forest green Mustang drove at a snail's pace Tuesday night through Central Park, signaling an end of an era. The old muscle car was the last private car to travel through the park's loop roads and was flanked by about 100 bicyclists celebrating the reclamation of Central Park's streets for pedestrians and bikers.

Once the green car was out of view city officials and safe streets advocates held a raucous celebration — featuring a giant banner and a full band — declaring victory in a fight that's been going on for nearly 60 years.

"Our city is full of cars. They clog up the streets, they line practically every block. Central Park was meant to be a different kind of place -- a place for people," Paul Steely White, the executive director of Transportation Alternatives and the man who drove the forest green Mustang, said Tuesday. "We've worked for years gathering signatures, holding rallies and winning supporters, never knowing for sure if this day would ever come, so we're elated to usher in a new car-free era for Central Park."

In attendance at the rally was Barry Benepe, who helped organize the first calls for a car-free central park in the 60s and his son Adrian, a former New York City Parks commissioner. Current Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver said Tuesday that declaring Central Park car free sends a message: "We want are parks for people."

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Earth Day that Central Park's loop drives below 72nd Street would go from being shared by motorists, pedestrians and cyclists to being car free. These "loop" roads include West Drive, Center Drive, East Drive and Terrace Drive. The ban will be fully instituted on day one, city officials said in April.

The loop drives supported about 350 cars traveling northbound and 500 cars traveling southbound at peak hours, Department of Transportation Commission Polly Trottenberg told reporters in April. The large transverse roads that carry crosstown traffic through the park will be exempt from the ban, city officials said. The closure of the loop roads is not expected to contribute to increased congestion on the transverses, Trottenberg said.

Emergency response vehicles and Parks Department maintenance vehicles will still be able to access the loop drives. The Department of Parks will continue to study how it can both reduce the number of its own vehicles in Central Park and deploy a more park-friendly fleet of vehicles, city officials said.

Cars were banned from roads above 72nd Street in 2015 and each year has seen a decreased number of cars traveling through the park, officials said.

Photos by Brendan Krisel/Patch