Central Park South Loop Overhaul Set to Begin 3/17

Central Park will see the beginning of safety work meant to ease the battle between pedestrians and cyclists in the park.

Starting March 17, work will commence on repaving the six-mile looping south Drives of Central Park by the New York City Department of Transportation. The immediate goal of this work is to create space between foot and pedal traffic around the park, with longer-term goals including a raised pedestrian lane in the southern, busiest part of the park.

The work in the southern area is expected to be completed by May. The resurfacing schedule lists April 28 as the last day of work, with the resurfacing ending at Center Drive/7th Avenue. Officials report that work on the northern loop will begin in 2026.

These changes are a long time coming, with 93 percent of all traffic through park being either on foot or by pedal. Between 2018 and 2022, over 500 collisions between pedestrians and wheeled vehicles were reported per the Central Park Conservancy. Nearly all resulted in injury, with one resulting in a fatality.

“Reported crashes may not fully reflect the chaotic or unsafe feel of the busier sections of the Drives, nor the more minor collisions that regularly occur,” a CPC report read.

Roughly 42 million people visit the park each year, with about 70 percent being residents of NYC and 14 percent being first-time visitors. With numbers like these, there are bound to be conflicts in the park.

As the report says, challenges to the new initiative include outdated designs of infrastructure, crosswalks “featuring inconsistent markings,” and a general disregard for traffic signals. The report recommends a number of changes to see increased safety for all throughout the park. The idea of separation is one way to get it done.

The CPC makes it clear that the separation of wheels and feet is the way forward. It calls for an analysis of every single crosswalk in the park with “an eye toward better protecting pedestrians.” In addition, pedestrians should be guided toward historic archways to avoid conflicts with other kinds of traffic, along with an increase of enforcement of the rules of the park to ensure safety and compliance.

Some of these issues stem from a rule in 2018 that banned cars in Central Park. While this is all well and good for bicyclists, pedestrians, and those seeking a reprieve from the combustion engine, it has given rise to the prevalence of e-bikes in the park in the post-COVID era. The speedier bikes exist in a grey zone: too fast to be treated as regular bikes, not fast or carbon-burning enough to be seen as cars.

As such, David Saltonstall, the CPC vice president for government relations, said, “There’s going to be an inside lane for pedestrians and joggers. There’ll be a middle lane for slower bikers and then a speedier lane on the outside, which is reserved for emergency vehicles, for work vehicles, but also for all the e-vehicles that are now very much in the park,” per Gothamist.

To tell how well the changes are going, the CPC reports that they “will look at safety data to tell us if design changes have reduced conflict on the Drives and what more might need to be done in specific locations,” per their report. They also ask New Yorkers for their feedback as well.

For now, work will begin next Monday on the extensive repaving and resurfacing. Looking into the future, the CPC is considering adding a protected bike lane on the 86th Street traverse through the park and removing all traffic signals in exchange for bike and pedestrian signals.