These UES Streets Are Opening To Aid Social Distancing

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A small stretch of the Upper East Side is included in a group of city streets opening to pedestrians Monday to help with social distancing, according to city officials.

The city Department of Transportation began closing off roughly seven miles of New York streets in and near city parks on Friday in the first wave of Mayor Bill de Blasio's plan to open up 100 miles of New York City roadways during the coronavirus pandemic.

The first seven miles include a six-block of East End Ave bordering Carl Schurz Park from East 83rd Street to East 89th Street, according to city officials. The small stretch, which measures about a third of a mile, is the only Upper East Side street included in the city's first round of closures.

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Community Board 8, which represents the Upper East Side, passed a resolution in March asking the city to open up Park Avenue between East 59th and 96th streets. Park Avenue won't be entirely shut down to cars under the community board's suggested plan. Cars will still be able to make east-west crossings on Park Avenue, according to the board's resolution. The car ban is also limited to peak hours from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., according to the resolution.

Barricades and signs will alert drivers to the closures and enforcement will come via the Department of Transportation, FDNY, NYPD and local community groups, according to DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg.

"This will be well protected and well regulated space," said de Blasio. "A family will feel very, very comfortable."

Other park-adjacent streets the city is closing include portions of Court Square in Queens, Prospect Park West and Parkside Ave in Brooklyn, streets near the Williamsbridge Oval in the Bronx and Dyckman Street in Manhattan.

City Hall first reached its agreement with City Council — which was pushing a plan to force the city to pedestrianize streets — last week. A bill introduced by the City Council during the body's first remote meeting proposed opening up 75 miles of city streets for pedestrian use. The administration and council's compromise has a goal of opening 100 miles of streets.

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