
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Central Park will ban automobile traffic by June.
The world’s most famous green space is about to get a lot greener.
All private vehicles will be banned from Central Park starting on June 27, Mayor Bill de Blasio and other city officials announced Friday.
The measure eliminates traffic in the last area of the park where cars had been allowed — the “scenic loops” south of 72nd Street, where they were restricted to limited weekday hours.
The car ban does not affect emergency vehicles or the four east-west transverses, which were built into the park’s original design as fully separated, below-grade roadways for through-traffic.
“Our parks are for people, not cars,” de Blasio told reporters.
“For more than a century, cars have turned parts of the world’s most iconic park into a highway,” he said.
“Today we take it back. We are prioritizing the safety and the health of the millions of parents, children and visitors who flock to Central Park.”