Permanent Car-Free Streets in Manhattan's Meatpacking District

The local Business Improvement District has decided to permanently block cars from a large swath of Manhattan's Meatpacking District.

1 minute read

August 11, 2021, 5:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


People gather on a street with no cars during the L.E.A.F. Festival of Flowers in the Meatpacking District of New York City.

The L.E.A.F. Festival of Flowers was held in June 2021 in the Meatpacking District of New York City. | rblmfr / Shutterstock

"The streets of Manhattan’s touristy Meatpacking District are going car-free forever after Mayor Bill de Blasio closed them and dozens of others to regular car traffic during the height of COVID," reports David Meyer.

Cars will be blocked from Gansevoort Street, Little West 12th Street, and West 13th Street between Ninth Avenue and Washington Street. Hexagon-shaped planter barricades will be used to block cars from the streets. "The hexagonal shape of the barriers represents that unique geography — referencing the angle that Greenwich Village streets meet the rest of the Manhattan grid." That connection between the barricades and the neighborhood was first reported by Shaye Weaver in a separate article for Time Out.

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