Manhattan CB5 Transportation Committee backs 1/2 Avenue extension

A Midtown walking route could gain a new southern stretch. The Manhattan Community Board 5 Transportation Committee voted unanimously to send DOT a letter supporting an extension of the 1/2 Avenue concept. Presenters proposed branding and mapping existing publicly accessible spaces as part of the route. Property owners would keep responsibility for operations and maintenance. The request to DOT centers on permission for sidewalk signs and city involvement in putting the extension on maps.

Committee members asked whether the proposed spaces are privately owned public spaces, known as POPS, and whether promoting them as a route would change what owners could do with their properties. Presenters said the proposal focuses on signs and identity, not development rights, and that properties could change. Members discussed 114 West 47th Street and other sites, though the status of some as POPS remained unclear. They raised a practical concern: limited hours, private events or construction could interrupt a walk that depends on continuous access.

Pedestrian safety remains another question for DOT. Committee members asked about crosswalks, stop signs, neckdowns and raised crossings if more people are encouraged to use the corridor. They pointed to crossings and traffic-calming work on the northern 1/2 Avenue blocks. One member suggested adding public restroom information to signs and communications. Members discussed including safety and access requests in their letter. The unanimous vote supports the concept; it does not itself put up signs, map the route or change the streets.

The Manhattan Community Board 5 Transportation Committee then reviewed its transportation requests for the CB5 budget task force. The chair explained that the task force collects committee input, sends a report to city agencies and later receives status updates. He pointed to earlier requests that had advanced, including the Union Square bike lane extension, the completed Lexington Avenue bus lane and Broadway Vision plazas near Flatiron.

One problem remains unresolved: flooding near the downtown side of the 28th Street station on the 1 line during rain. The chair described water running beneath the area and gushing from a manhole near FIT. He said DOT’s response had not captured the problem and that coordination with FIT construction had not happened in time. He raised the 34th Street busway as another continuing request.

Members suggested adding modular public bathrooms, more Summer Streets days beyond Saturdays, and enforcement of illegal vending and sidewalk obstructions in Midtown. They raised construction staging and holiday-period sidewalk closures. The chair cited e-bike enforcement and Midtown crosstown bike lanes among requests still needing attention. These ideas were discussed as input for the task force, not as approved projects.