New York City Mayor Eric Adams has announced over $400 million in funding for the “Future of Fifth” project, which will transform Fifth Avenue between Bryant Park and Central Park into a pedestrian-focused boulevard. With an additional $250 million added to a prior $152.7 million commitment, the initiative is the most extensive redesign in the 200-year history of the avenue. The plan is led by a public-private partnership that includes the city, the Fifth Avenue Association, the Grand Central Partnership, the Central Park Conservancy, and the Bryant Park Corporation, with design efforts by Arcadis, Sam Schwartz, and Field Operations.
The Future Of Fifth redesign shifts the balance to pedestrian usage and available space by reducing vehicular lanes from five to three and expanding sidewalks by 46 percent. The street’s new configuration will provide 25 feet of clear walking space on each side of the street, alongside an additional 8.5-foot section dedicated to trees, planters, and pedestrian pathways. Additions include 230 new trees, 20,000 square feet of planters, new seating, and improved lighting. Underground infrastructure upgrades will be completed simultaneously to modernize aging sewer and water systems.
Future-of-Fifth bird’s eye view corridor rendering. Credit: City Hall
Fifth Avenue sees up to 23,000 pedestrians per hour during peak times but currently allocates only 46 percent of space to sidewalks. The street is responsible for over 300,000 jobs and has seen nearly $4 billion in real estate transactions since the project was first announced in 2022.
“This project represents a new Fifth Avenue not only for shoppers and tourists, but for all New Yorkers who live and work in the neighborhood,” said Ed Hogan, board chair, Fifth Avenue Association; and executive vice president, head of retail leasing, Vornado Realty Trust. “The goal is to transform Fifth Avenue to become the most beautiful street in the city with a design that prioritizes pedestrians. This project will bring more customers to the stores and encourage them to stay longer. A renovated Fifth Avenue will enhance the desirability of the Plaza District and midtown office markets. Beautifying Fifth Avenue, the front door to New York City, will re-energize Midtown Manhattan at a critical moment. I thank Mayor Adams for his leadership and commitment to delivering the type of high street that’s worthy of our great city.”
Subscribe to YIMBY’s daily e-mail
Follow YIMBYgram for real-time photo updates
Like YIMBY on Facebook
Follow YIMBY’s Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews
I am not certain how well the trees will survive unless irrigation systems are installed. The desirability of benches depends on what sort of people will be using them.
I’m curious. What issue would cause them not to survive that other trees in the area do not already face? What precedent are we worried about?
Once again this fraud of a mayor fails to advocate for bike lanes and bike safety. Can’t wait to see him go.
Didn’t need bike lanes until your brain dead streetsmartless generation emerged from your moms basement
Mayor Kenny do you just wake up every day and decide to act like a complete fucktard for some sense of validation? Everything you’ve ever said on Yimby is nothing more than a tirade of angry complaints from a sad desperate cunt trying to sound intimidating by picking fights with random people. I hope a bike crashes into you if you keep at it with your relentless rants.
You probably had a sad childhood where you didn’t learn to ride a bike Mayor Kenny. What’s with the pent up anger that you always throw at random people???
How do you have this much time to be so spitefully hateful towards everyone Mayor Kenny?
I lived in Istanbul for 4 years on a grand boulevard. It had beautiful shops and a wide variety of eating establishments all of which had outdoor seating. Some things it didn’t have…homelelss, illegal street vendors, crazed delivery guys on scooters and e bikes.
Perfect
The design is elegant and functional
Good for mayor Adams and his team.
At present 5th Avenue is not better than the cross Bronx expressway.
$400 million for the well off on Fifth Avenue . This is where the casino money is going . Cancel the casinos and stop this nonsense.
Where are the bike lanes, Adams?
Two lanes for enviro-killing cars are enough.
One bus lane? Who decides what direction gets preference?
No casinos, bencges are fine as long as homeless not sleeping on them
His ideas are Utopic.
But not in todays BNYC.
“This project represents a new Fifth Avenue not only for shoppers and tourists, but for all New Yorkers who live and work in the neighborhood,” said the bicycle haters! This plan is not for anyone on two wheels and brings back the days of Mayor Koch who tried to ban cyclists from Madison, Park and 5th Ave. in the 1980s.
Unfortunately, cyclists continue to disrespect all who are not on a bike, as if they are some new class of people who can ignore crosswalks, traffic signals, traffic flow direction and pedestrians walking on sidewalks.
You most likely weren’t even alive for Koch. Stop being such a wuss when it comes to riding a bike.
Get a fucking grip mayor Karen. What got into your retarded mind to make you sound like such an ungrateful condescending bitch?
You’re the worst commenter on Yimby, Mayor Kenny. I’ve never read a single damn thing from you that doesn’t make you sound like a man with a hard temper, unresolved anger issues, and a limp dick.
Nothing validates the way you’ve talked to people here with such behavioral issues as bad as the president.
$400 million is kind of crazy, or corrupt?
It’s also crazy there’s no accommodation for bicycles, especially for all the delivery bikes. Planters are nice, but make the sidewalks narrower for those holiday crushes. What happens to traffic when taxis and ubers stop to wait for passengers?
It’s too they didn’t do something with Ninth & Tenth Avenue around Hudson Yards to make them pedestrian-friendly. That’s the biggest problem with Hudson Yards — many of the sidewalk segments are too narrow, and there’s nothing of intermediate size as a buffer from the street or a buffer from the towers.
I’ve seen this happen in other cities. I live in Chicago, and saw the rise and demise of the 1973 State Street debacle, of the attempt to make that street more “pedestrian friendly.” What happened, on all the widened streets, was a sense of emptiness, a lack of human interaction, it “thinned out” the crowds and deplete the “critical mass” as is required, and indeed expected, in such places! In the view above, for the fifity feet in front of you, there are only nine (9) people!! For Fifth Avenue??? I know this is just a computer rendering, but this is what you’ll get.
I think a comparison to ped mall era State St is a bit of an exageration. You fail to mention that the zigzaggy ped mall era coincided with the downturn of State St retail with the rise of upscale Mich Ave. The closures of ‘Blatt’s and ‘Boldt’s was going to happen anyway. The appeal and vitality of the State St retail corridor was inevitably going to go through changes as it is now honestly.jist a shadow of its former importance. It wasn’t caused by a ped/bus mall design and it wasn’t saved with a pretty historical redesign in the 90s. Larger forces were at work.
Fifth Av is not in the vulnerable declining position State St was and wider sidewalks are not going to cause one.
Agree completely. This will be a nice enhancement to Fifth.
For the safety of pedestrians, I’m so happy to see that no bike lanes were included.
Automobiles kill and injure many more pedestrians per day than cyclists do in 20 years. Without safe bicycle lanes ex-etc more carnage wrought by cars and trucks even for pedestrians.
Total nonsense. New York was the most pedestrian friendly city. It was safe and it had wonderful people and buildings to look at. We are jeopardizing that. Heavier cycles going faster are 10 times more dangerous than the typical bicycle going at slow slower. It’s just a law of physics. Eventually real estate taxes will have to drop as the value of these buildings in a city with people dying on the street will be an inevitability.
You really need to do some valid research. Pedestrian deaths are up all over the country mainly because of the now ubiquitous SUV with the front end becoming an ever taller wall of death. Have you seen how tall the front of a black Escalade is now? The taller the front hood, the more likely of a serious head injury and death.
I work next to a very busy bike lane in Midtown and while bike riders often run red lights, just like people in crosswalks when there’s no traffic, cars turning left and pedestrians wandering into bike lanes is the biggest problem. My worst biking accident was a pedestrian who darted out between parked cars to cross the street. Please don’t oversimplify an issue you clearly aren’t familiar with.
Bravo David for bringing to light the dangers that 2 plus ton Vehicles pose to cyclists. When there are bicycle lanes traffic deaths drop in those areas. People should look up what Transportation Alternatives has done to make NYC safer for all people. I myself over the last 45 year in New York have seen the advent of bicycle lanes making it safer to ride and co-exist with motorized transport. I do agree that motorized light personal vehicles need to be more regulated as they can cause issues for other users in many situations. Without a safe bike lane on 5th there will be chaos.
Go back to the suburbs
I wish someone drives into you, runs you over, and you never get back up mayor Kenny. We won’t miss you or your cold-hearted, remorseless comments from some childish dumb fuck like you.
Crawl back in your grave mayor Kenny
I support cycling infrastructure but I absolutely hate how the polarizing BIKE LANES!!! advocacy sits at the center of seemingly every urban planning discussion the way abortion does with politics.
My personal feeling is does every Avenue need bike lanes? Obviously this redesign is going to throttle traffic speeds so why can’t more bike/e-bike/passenger car mixed traffic be accomplished here?
More trees, less cars. Looks good. Once it’s there, it will need to be kept clean.
future site of African knock off peddlers , weed dealers , encampments of out of towners with addictions, and pot stench
No rules, no punishment, no social order , anything goes