UN’s General Assembly will return, & city girds for traffic

The United Nations General Assembly is returning — and so are the traffic headaches that come with it.

Streets throughout Midtown will be shut down beginning Monday as New York City hosts the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly, police said Friday.

Scores of cops will be seen on the East Side as the UN hosts 132 countries and will be the backdrop for an expected 37 protests planned for the area next week.

“The good news is we know how patient New Yorkers are, so I’m sure they are going to be very patient during these traffic detours,” Police Commissioner Dermot Shea joked during a security briefing at police headquarters.

Currently there are no credible threats against the city or the General Assembly, said NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism John Miller, but that doesn’t mean cops will lower their guard.

“That has little to do with our posture because we always go this event with a layered approach that accounts for the idea that there will be unknown threats,” Miller said. “You’re going to see a lot of security, a lot of motorcades and a lot of street closures.”

Representatives of Afghanistan — it’s exiled government and the Taliban forces in charge of the embattled country — will not be attending, removing a number of potential security threats, officials said.

Beginning 6 a.m. Monday, several streets in the Midtown area will be closed off as the NYPD sets up detours and security checkpoints, Chief of Transportation Kim Royster said.

Over at the UN, 42nd St. between First and Second Aves. will be completely closed off to traffic with the exception of vehicles cleared at the checkpoints, Royster said.

“The city is opening up, but we want to make sure it’s able to move,” she said.