WALK EFELLER!
Street closings stir love & hate
Rockefeller Center turned into a pedestrian wonderland on Friday — as two full crosstown blocks were closed to cars to give extra room for the holiday season crush of visitors.
“We love it — love that it’s open,” gushed Anda Lucia, 44, of Ossining, as she strolled along West 50th Street with her husband, Sam Ansary, 46, and their 6-year-old daughter, Kara.
Ansary called the historic-yet-controversial street closures “an escape,” and his wife added, “It would be great to really do it year-round. It’s so congested no matter what time it is. Less is more in terms of cars.”
Both 50th and 49th streets between Fifth and Sixth avenues were car-free from 1 p.m. to midnight Friday and will remain closed on future Fridays at those times until Jan. 6.
The same closures will be in place from 2 p.m. to midnight from Monday to Thursday and 10 a.m. to midnight on Saturdays and Sundays through Jan. 6.
At one point on Friday, a rugby team from Quebec used the street closures as an opportunity to toss around a ball under a traffic light on West 49th Street.
“It brings a lot of people in. It brings more life,” rugby player Francis Lamjevim, 21, said of the open streets.
While sauntering in the middle of 49th Street with her two young children in tow, Melissa Davis, 40, of Rochester, declared, “It makes a big difference . . . It’s a big deal for New York.”
Laura Peters, 45, who walked carefree with her pooch, Denver, on 50th Street, said, “For us it’s great — lots of space.”
But not everyone was happy about the street shutdowns.
“It’s terrible for us,” said tourist-bus ticket hawker Kokou A., who works for City Sightseeing and noted that the buses normally make a stop on West 49th Street just in front of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.
“We’re gonna lose so much business. It will be difficult to sell, because people see the bus go by, they want to ride. This is a popular area. It’s going to affect us a lot.”
Yellow-cab driver Joseph Artistide, 55, griped, “They need to get the street back open,” as he sat in traffic on Sixth Avenue just before 50th Street.
“Why not let cars go? More options is better. You have to give people options,” said Artistide, who claimed Mayor de Blasio “just wants to show people that he’s in charge, that he’s doing something.”
Also, on weekdays between 5 p.m. and midnight, barriers will be placed on the east and west sides of Fifth Avenue between 48th and 52nd streets, eliminating two lanes of traffic to create more pedestrian space.
On weekends, the lanes will be closed from noon or earlier. During those periods no turns will be allowed on 47th, 49th or 51st streets.
Depending on crowd conditions, movable barriers may also be placed on the east side of Sixth Avenue between 48th and 52nd streets, closing one lane of traffic, according to the city. MTA buses will skip stops in that area.
On Friday, after lanes were closed on Fifth Avenue around 4 p.m., an NYPD sergeant standing at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 50th Street said, “It’s mayhem down there,” in reference to the traffic conditions.