Mayor Eric Adams on Sunday announced a $152.7 million investment to transform Fifth Avenue from Bryant Park to Central Park into a pedestrian-friendly boulevard.
The redesign will expand sidewalks by 46%, reduce traffic lanes and add greenery, creating a safer, more walkable space, City Hall said. The project aims to give a boost to Fifth Avenue’s economic output, which generates $44 billion in wages annually and supports 313,000 jobs, the mayor said.
“Fifth Avenue has and will always be the economic engine of our city for the past 200 years,” Adams said during the announcement, “And today, we’re putting high-octane fuel in that engine to take us the next 200 years.”
The revamped corridor will feature 230 new trees, 20,000 square feet of planters and improved lighting and seating, inspired by other iconic streets like Paris’ Champs Élysées, the mayor’s office said.
In a statement, City Hall said the project will “pay for itself in less than five years through increased property and sales tax revenue.”
Fifth Avenue currently accommodates up to 23,000 pedestrians per hour during peak times. The redesign will double pedestrian space and shorten crossing distances by a third, City Hall said.
“This historic investment is the start of a brand-new chapter for Fifth Avenue that will see this iconic street transform from an outdated and over-crowded road, into a beautiful tree-lined boulevard that puts pedestrians first, befitting of the most famous avenue in the world,” said Madelyn Wils, interim president of the Fifth Avenue Association and co-chair, Future of Fifth Steering Committee. “Every holiday season, our sidewalks are heaving with people spilling into the roadbed and Fifth Avenue can simply no longer accommodate the people on it.”
Construction will begin after design completion in 2025, with underground infrastructure upgrades included, Adams said.