Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Broadway Pedestrian Plazas Getting Makeover To "Blend" With Times Square
By
Emma Whitford
Published May 16, 2016
Modified May 16, 2016
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Emma Whitford
Published May 16, 2016
Modified May 16, 2016
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
A business interest group that oversees the pedestrian plazas on Broadway between 35th and 41st streets is working with the Department of Transportation on a makeover plan that would lift the two-lane plaza to sidewalk level and fill it with plantings, bright lighting, and new furniture.
"Right now it's really just painted asphalt," Garment District Alliance President Barbara Blair Randall told us on Monday. "There are chairs and plantings but [when you're out there] you really have a sense that you've just coopted part of the street."
"We don't really blend with our bookended neighbors right now," she added. "If you look north it's like this blazing light from Times Square, and if you look to the south, where Macy's is, it's lit. We're hoping to accomplish that with Broadway Boulevard."
The project is expected to cost about $70 million and take five years to implement, according to the Daily News. Before construction gets underway, the Alliance is planning to install wooden planks to lift the boulevard to sidewalk level for the summer months.
Former transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan installed Broadway Boulevard in 2008, reducing the traffic lanes on the six block stretch from four to two. The move was part of Sadik-Khan's city-wide mission to reclaim road space for pedestrians, with similar small plazas on Willoughby Street in Downtown Brooklyn, and Pearl Street in DUMBO.
At the time, Randall told the NY Times that she predicted the plaza would "transform all of Broadway, visually and mentally." And while critics doubted whether suits would eat takeout next to an active lane of traffic, lunch breakers quickly proved them wrong.
Today, Randall said that the plaza has a "huge garbage problem," and is too dark at night to attract tourists south. She's hoping to install water fountains to cut back on the number of plastic bottles.
Asked if the Alliance had plans to manage tip solicitation on the Boulevard like their neighbors to the north, Randall said she hoped her group wouldn't have to deal with the "chaos" in Times Square.
"We have been so lucky, knock on wood," she said. "The costumed characters really tend to stay in Times Square. Every once in a while they take their heads off and eat at one of our tables... but don't jinx it."
Tagged
Broadway Boulevard
Garment District Alliance
makeover
pedestrian plaza
Emma Whitford
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Parents grumble as NYC schools chancellor dodges calls for NYC schools integration plan
Journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones said she felt disappointed by the lack of details.
By
Jessica Gould
Published Oct 20, 2026 at 10:01 p.m. ET
Driver found with apparent gunshot wound on George Washington Bridge, officials say
The westbound upper level was closed Tuesday night as Port Authority police investigated the incident.
By
Charles Lane
News
Driver found with apparent gunshot wound on George Washington Bridge, officials say
The westbound upper level was closed Tuesday night as Port Authority police investigated the incident.
By
Charles Lane
16 arrested in New York auto insurance fraud crackdown involving nearly $500K
By
Giulia Heyward
Coney Island's small, 1890s lighthouse may be landmarked by the city
By
Catalina Gonella
New renderings are out for Queens' Metropolitan Park casino
By
Willow Higgins
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .