What to Know
- Prospect Park will permanently go car-free beginning January 2018, the mayor announced Monday
- It follows a trial run of car-free hours over the last few summers
- More than 1,100 people had petitioned the city to keep the entire park car-free
Brooklyn's Prospect Park will become permanently car-free beginning in January, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday.
The initiative follows a hugely popular car-free summer at the park, where cars were banned on the East Drive from July through September. After Labor Day weekend, the city received petitions with more than 1,100 signatures calling for the return of full-time car-free hours for the whole park, de Blasio's office says.
The entire loop drive at the park will now become car-free beginning Jan. 2, 2018.
De Blasio says preliminary results from the analysis of the car-free trial at the park over the summer "clearly indicate" that there were no major delays on alternative driving routes. The DOT will continue to closely monitor traffic around the park and make adjustments as necessary after the January car-free hours take effect.
"Restoring Prospect Park as a car-free oasis will improve the lives of the millions who use this park today and of generations to come," said de Blasio, who married wife Chirlane at the park, and whose children played Little League at the park.
Prospect Park started testing car-free hours in 2015. They were popular with the walkers, joggers and cyclists who use the loop drive.
