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[GK86]

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While crowding is hardly a new problem in the city, the sidewalks that cemented New York’s reputation as a world-class walking city have become obstacle courses as more people than ever live and work in the city and tourism surges. The problem is particularly acute in Manhattan. Around Penn Station and the Port Authority Bus Terminal, two of the city’s main transit hubs, commuters clutching coffee cups and briefcases squeeze by one another during the morning and evening rushes. Throngs of shoppers and visitors sometimes bring swaths of Lower Manhattan to a standstill, prompting some residents of the area to cite clogged sidewalks as their biggest problem in a recent community survey.

Foot traffic has slowed to a shuffle along some of the city’s most famous corridors. On Fifth Avenue, between 54th and 55th Streets, 26,831 pedestrians — enough to fill Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall combined — passed through in three hours on a weekday in May 2015, up from 20,639 the year before, according to city data.

Transportation officials are taking measures to alleviate the congestion. To help accommodate foot traffic, they are adding more pedestrian plazas around the city, expanding the presence of a streetscape feature first embraced by the Bloomberg administration. One is scheduled to open soon on 33rd Street near Penn Station. There are also plans to widen a half-dozen sidewalks in Flushing, Queens, in the next year (the city’s sidewalks vary in width, but must be at least five feet wide).

Crowded sidewalks are not just a New York problem. They have created bottlenecks and logistical hurdles and have raised safety concerns in cities across the country. Since 2013, public works officials in San Francisco have widened two sidewalks in Fisherman’s Wharf and the Castro, popular tourist areas with a lot of foot traffic. A third sidewalk project is planned for Second Street, one of the main routes to AT&T Park, the baseball stadium where the Giants play.

In Seattle, a busy stretch of East Pike Street in the Capitol Hill neighborhood that is lined with restaurants, bars and clubs was closed to cars on three Saturday nights last summer to make room for pedestrians overflowing from the sidewalks. “It just feels so jammed with humanity it becomes a rough situation,” said Joel Sisolak, sustainability and planning director for Capitol Hill Housing, a community development corporation that has worked with city officials to address the issue of crowded sidewalks.

If there is an epicenter of crowded sidewalks in New York, it is near Penn Station, where pedestrians, food carts and newsstands all vie for space. Only London and Tokyo have sidewalks as congested, said Daniel A. Biederman, president of the 34th Street Partnership, which oversees the business district in the area. As many as 14,000 pedestrians an hour walk in front of the Modell’s Sporting Goods store on Seventh Avenue near West 34th Street, according to 2015 data collected by the partnership.

The commuter crowd is also growing. An average of 92,314 riders boarded New Jersey Transit trains at Penn Station each weekday in fiscal year 2015, up from 79,891 riders in fiscal year 2010. In the same period, average weekday boardings on New Jersey Transit buses at the Port Authority terminal also increased, to 78,006 riders from 72,506.

Veteran pedestrians have tried to adapt. They shoulder their way into bike lanes or walk purposefully on the street alongside cars — eyes ahead, earphones in — forming a de facto express lane. They move en masse along Seventh and Eighth Avenues like a storm system on a weather map, heading north in the mornings and south in the evenings.

I'm guilty of doing this. Last year, I worked around Penn Station and it becomes almost impossible to walk during rush hour. I would walk in the bus lane to avoid the streets and the crowds. People really need to learn how to walk.

 

[Jarmel]

Honestly it's not that bad. The worst city I've been in where it was pedestrian hell was Tokyo. It puts NYC to shame.

 

[smokeandmirrors]

Cities are for pedestrians unless it's like fire/police/ambulance and delivery stuff.

start closing some streets and make them pedestrian only.

 

[MiniBossBattle]

Too many people.

 

[Jarmel]

Cities are for pedestrians unless it's like fire/police/ambulance and delivery stuff.

start closing some streets and make them pedestrian only.

They already do that in NYC. A number of streets around Time Square are closed to vehicles.

 

[AlphaSnake]

I usually walk in the first lane alongside the parked cars.

 

[BokehKing]

Of course it's crowded at Penn, you have millions and millions of people pouring in from Long Island and Jersey to go to work.

 

[lastplayed]

Do they not have walking lanes?

 

[ramparter]

Happens in Athens but mostly because sidewalks less than 2 meters (6 ft)

 

[smokeandmirrors]

They already do that in NYC. A number of streets around Time Square are closed to vehicles.

yeah and it looks like they need to close more.

make them pedestrian/bike only.

 

[Oppo]

this happened in Paris a while ago, they have tiny little walkways

cars just deal. will lead to a renaissance in scooter / ebike sales probably

 

[Oxn]

This is the reason why im glad I work in the Financial District and not in Midtown.

 

[Hasphat'sAnts]

Timely piece after Pride this Sunday, lol.

 

[Jarmel]

yeah and it looks like they need to close more.

make them pedestrian/bike only.

Problem is some of those streets are used for commerce purposes such as dropping off groceries or supplies. You also need streets for emergency vehicles.

 

[Marion Cobretti]

Honestly it's not that bad. The worst city I've been in where it was pedestrian hell was Tokyo. It puts NYC to shame.

This. Although on top of that, people in Tokyo are more organized when it does to walking, and getting around train stations.

 

[smokeandmirrors]

Problem is some of those streets are used for commerce purposes such as dropping off groceries or supplies. You also need streets for emergency vehicles.

i mean yeah that too. you can still do that while not allowing normal traffic to pass through.

 

[teruterubozu]

Gone are the days when we huddled together on treelined sidewalks, passing and glancing at each other, dreaming of futures that could have been.

 

[WedgeX]

More people walking is always a good thing. Time to add tons more trains and buses while allowing fewer cars.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

Learn how to walk tourists

I used to work on 8th and always walked in the bike lane during rush hour because people around the port authority seem to become stupid

Lol I remember this thread.

 

[AlphaSnake]

Gone are the days when we huddled together on treelined sidewalks, passing and glancing at each other, dreaming of futures that could have been.

I love that thread. Hahaha

 

[Gallbaro]

More people walking is always a good thing. Time to add tons more trains and buses while allowing fewer cars.

Yea, we will get right on that lol.

 

[Bruce Springsteen]

dat 180

 

[ezrarh]

They definitely should prioritize more pedestrian space over vehicular space. 1 car usually only carries 1 person and that takes up significantly more space than somebody walking. Buses, trucks carrying goods I see as more vital than a SOV.

 

[victreeb3l]

Park Ave was packed today for some reason. Like I actually had to stop to let people pass. What kind of madness is this

 

[rokkerkory]

Why do peeps live in NY if they have a choice

 

[Grizzlyjin]

Just another sign that we need to get our hovercar technology moving.

 

[Nonoriri]

I was walking from 36th & Broadway to 29th street and I can't even with all these goddamn people.

I just want to pick up some Stumptown beans people, pls.

 

[milkham]

i just automatically walk in the street when i'm in chinatown

 

[B-Dubs]

My crosstown walk to and from the E every morning and afternoon is a bitch. The closer I get to the West side the more time I spend on the street itself. This article isn't news, but I'm glad someone noticed.

 

[sangreal]

I only ever see this on blocks covered in scaffolding... which I suppose is most of them

 

[titiklabingapat]

It's probably time to close some of the streets to cars. It's inevitable.

 

[CrocMother]

Why do peeps live in NY if they have a choice

I know, why doesn't everybody just move to California/PNW? Why do people subject themselves to inferior styles of living? /s

 

[GK86]

Why do peeps live in NY if they have a choice

Because it is the best city in the universe.

 

[victreeb3l]

Why do peeps live in NY if they have a choice

Cause NY is the bestest

 

[titiklabingapat]

Problem is some of those streets are used for commerce purposes such as dropping off groceries or supplies. You also need streets for emergency vehicles.

They can do those at night, or with smaller vehicles.

 

[The Main Event]

Why do peeps live in NY if they have a choice

The women and pizza bruh

 

[B-Dubs]

The women and pizza bruh

Don't forget dem bagels

 

[woolley]

The biggest problem I've seen is tourists standing in the middle of the sidewalk making it hard to walk on the already crowed areas. Move to the side or keep on walking with everyone else.

 

[Gallbaro]

Problem is some of those streets are used for commerce purposes such as dropping off groceries or supplies. You also need streets for emergency vehicles.

Think through the emergency vehicle thought. It is A LOT easier for an emergency vehicle to go down a pedestrian road than a traffic packed road.

 

[darthbob]