Adams announces $250M more for Fifth Avenue redesign plan
Images by Field Operations, courtesy of City Hall
New York City is investing another $250 million to transform Fifth Avenue into a pedestrian-centric corridor. Mayor Eric Adams announced the new funding on Wednesday, bringing the total investment in the project to $400 million, including $152 million the city had previously committed. Focused on the stretch between Central Park and Bryant Park, the Fifth Avenue redesign will reduce traffic lanes from five to three, nearly double the width of sidewalks, shorten crosswalks, and add more than 230 trees, as well as new seating and improved lighting.
Included in Adams’ Fiscal Year 2026 executive budget, the project is now fully funded and marks the first major redesign of Fifth Avenue in its 200-year history. According to Adams, the $250 million investment will pay for itself within five years of completion through increased tax revenues generated along the corridor.
Today, Fifth Avenue measures 100 feet wide, with five lanes of traffic and two 23-foot-wide sidewalks. Although pedestrians make up 70 percent of all traffic on the avenue, sidewalks account for just 46 percent of the space. According to the mayor, the corridor sees more foot traffic in a single hour than would fill Madison Square Garden during a sold-out Knicks game, plus an additional 4,000 people.
The corridor’s current layout can’t accommodate the heavy pedestrian traffic, with only 15 feet of unobstructed sidewalks on either side. The remaining space is taken up by things like signage, bus stops, lighting, and trash cans, as 6sqft previously reported.
Under the proposed redesign, sidewalk widths would nearly double to 33.5 feet on each side, expanding unobstructed walking space to 25 feet and adding an 8.5-foot-wide section for trees. The changes aim to enhance pedestrian safety by reducing crossing distances by more than one-third.
Additionally, more tree coverage will better shield Fifth Avenue from the heat, while a new stormwater system will reduce the risk of flooding. The city will begin construction on other much-needed underground sewer and water main upgrades, allowing above and belowground work to happen simultaneously.
The design takes inspiration from the area’s iconic landmarks and Art Deco architecture, while also drawing on the redesigns of renowned retail corridors like the Champs-Élysées in Paris, Oxford and Regent Streets in London, and Ginza in Tokyo.
The famous retail corridor has long been an economic engine for the city, generating $44.1 billion in wages, $11.5 billion in annual economic output, and supporting 313,000 direct and indirect jobs.
“Fifth Avenue has long been our ‘Street of Dreams,’ so it’s time to invest in its future,” First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro said. “And when this project is done, from Midtown Manhattan to Central Park, we will have a tree-lined, pedestrian mecca that rivals the Champs-Élysées thanks to Mayor Adams’ foresight and commitment to this transformational project. The greatest city in the world deserves to have the greatest boulevard in the world, and now, we will have it.”
Although the city is expanding the bike lane on Sixth Avenue with a north-bound path, critics have raised concerns about the lack of a bike lane planned for Fifth Avenue. In a post on X, Transportation Alternatives noted that despite Fifth Avenue having the highest bike ridership of any street in Manhattan, it still lacks dedicated cycling infrastructure. In April, around 31,000 Citi Bike rides began at stations along Fifth Avenue.
The group cited promising results from other city corridors, noting that after a bike lane was added to Ninth Avenue in Manhattan, sales revenue rose by 49 percent. On Vanderbilt Avenue in Brooklyn, revenue increased by 40 percent in one year and doubled within three years, according to a press release.
“This new pedestrian space can only be safe and clear with a protected bike lane that keeps bikes off the sidewalks, and bus riders can only travel quickly and efficiently along Fifth Avenue with a dedicated busway,” Ben Furnas, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives, said in a statement.
“Instead, this shortsighted ‘vision’ snubs bus riders, pedestrians, and people on bikes alike. There’s no doubt that if this plan moves forward unchanged, after years of capital construction and hundreds of millions of dollars we’ll be left with a street with increased conflicts between people walking and people on bikes, bus riders trapped in congestion they didn’t create, and a gap in the protected bike lane network between Central Park and downtown.”
Since the plan for Fifth Avenue was first unveiled in December 2022, the city says the thoroughfare has seen new investments in commercial renovations, record-breaking sales, and heightened leasing activity along the avenue. More than 10 commercial real estate transactions on the corridor have totaled $3.9 billion since 2023.
These investments are driven by the redesign’s anticipated effect on revenue, as well as the success of the city’s 2022 Holiday Open Streets initiative on Fifth Avenue, which closed an 11-block stretch to traffic and generated an estimated $3 million in additional spending for local businesses.
In 2023, Adams created the Future of Fifth public-private partnership, consisting of city agencies and the Fifth Avenue Association, Grand Central Partnership, Central Park Conservancy, and Bryant Park Corporation.
The group tapped firms Arcadis, Sam Schwartz Engineering, and Field Operations to lead the design and study, with an initial design slated for completion this summer.
“This historic investment is going to reinvigorate one of the world’s most important streets and set the stage for another triumphant 200 years on Fifth Avenue,” Madelyn Wils, CEO of Fifth Avenue Association and co-chair of the Future of Fifth Steering Committee, said.
“Hundreds of thousands of people come to Fifth Avenue every day — and most of them are pedestrians. This visionary plan will rebalance and reinvigorate Fifth Avenue to better serve both New Yorkers and tourists alike.”
Construction is expected to begin in 2028. The project’s funding requires approval from the City Council, according to Gothamist.
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I like the plan very much. I would also eliminate food carts from this stretch as they take up sidewalk space and detract from the ambience of the area. As far as bike lanes are concerned, bikers can take Madison or 6th Avenue. NYC is not Europe, we can do without a bike lane for 17 blocks.
Trees are not enough, need to make street that have NO PETROLEUM exhaust, this includes vendors and vehicles., only minimal electric transport… the population requires environment healthy streets trout the island of Manhattan. This is great !