An updated design has been unveiled for the redesign an 11-block streetscape transformation of Park Avenue spanning East 46th to East 57th Street in Midtown East, Manhattan. Led by the New York City Department of Transportation and designed by Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners, in collaboration with Thornton Tomasetti and TYLin, the project will expand the avenue’s medians, add pedestrian space, seating, and landscaping, and convert an existing southbound vehicle travel lane into a two-way protected bike lane. The revised plan would remove one travel lane in each direction and repurpose one additional southbound lane for the protected bike lane, while new crosswalks will connect the medians along the corridor. The project area sits directly above the Grand Central Terminal train shed, between Grand Central Terminal and the foot of East 57th Street.
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani and NYC DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn presented the updated design, which responds to feedback from New Yorkers by moving the originally proposed two-way bike lane out of the median and into dedicated space in the roadbed, preserving the expanded pedestrian areas within the planted medians. Dedicated pedestrian space in the medians will accommodate flexible programming, temporary art installations, and new vantage points for viewing Midtown landmarks.
Proposed median design, East 50th to East 52nd Streets. Rendering by NYC DOT.
The project advanced this summer when the East Midtown Public Realm Improvement Fund Governing Group approved a $39 million outlay to move the redesign forward, following a July 14 meeting. Funding flows through the East Midtown Governing Group, established under the 2017 Greater East Midtown Rezoning, which requires new commercial developments and transfers of development rights to contribute to nearby public realm improvements.
The streetscape work is timed to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s capital rehabilitation of the century-old Grand Central Terminal train shed directly below the roadway, through which 98 percent of Metro-North trains pass daily. Under the 2025–2029 capital plan, JPMorganChase will manage reconstruction of Sector 2, running from East 46th to East 50th Street, with a $50 million contribution, while Vornado will manage Sector 3, from East 50th to East 53rd Street, in coordination with the redevelopment of 350 Park Avenue, which is contributing $25 million. Sector 1, reconstructed alongside JPMorganChase’s new headquarters at 270 Park Avenue, came in $20 million under budget and is on track for substantial completion by the end of 2026.
Aerial view of the Park Avenue medians concept. Rendering by Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners.
The redesign also marks a partial return to form for the corridor. The Park Avenue malls were created between 1903 and 1913 atop the electrified railyard, and the widened, planted median drew promenaders before the roadway was expanded for automobiles in the 1920s.
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Will need Flock cameras for all the double parked cars that will be blocking traffic.