Opening iconic New York City streets to pedestrians meant an extra $3 million in spending last year — and helped save local businesses during the pandemic

• Last year, New York City opened Fifth Avenue as a pedestrian street on December weekends.
• That drove an estimated $3 million in additional spending at the businesses on those streets.
• It's the latest economic proof that making streets pedestrian and cyclist forward is good for business.

The evidence is mounting that making streets more walkable, bikeable, and car-free is really good for business. 

A new report from Mastercard and the New York City Office of Technology and Innovation shows just what a boon opening up streets was for New York's Midtown. During the 2022 holiday season, New York City Mayor Eric Adams turned an 11-block stretch of the iconic Fifth Avenue into an "open street" for three weekends in December. The experiment drove an estimated $3 million in additional spending at the businesses on those walkable streets, a 6.6% increase in spending over similar blocks that weren't open to pedestrians, according to the report. 

"Research is clear that Open Streets bring more people to our city's public spaces, more business to our city's stores, and more jobs to New Yorkers," Adams said in a press release. That's leading the city to permanently reshape Fifth Avenue into a more pedestrian and cyclist-forward zone — and Adams said he's formed partnerships with local organizations and business districts to make that a reality.  

"We are reimagining Fifth Avenue as a safer, less congested, pedestrian-centered boulevard that also prioritizes public space, mass transit, and cyclists," he said.

It's part of a larger urban reckoning happening in the US concerning who and what should be using spaces in cities, especially as the pandemic turned urban usage upside down. It used to be that cities could depend on offices, and the workers they bring, for tax revenues and to keep downtowns bustling. Now, they need to make bigger bets to keep money pouring in — and keep residents from leaving. 

For example, as office towers sit empty, cities are reimagining them as apartments. And lively central streets are no longer just for cars — which, in New York, are getting hit with new congestion taxes in an effort to try and get more commuters to take public transit and make streets safer — but instead for leisurely shoppers and cyclists. 

"Creating pedestrian-centered spaces attracts foot traffic that is a boon to local businesses and New York City's economy,"  Chief Public Realm Officer Ya-Ting Liu said in a press release. "People vote with their feet and wallets."

This is just the latest example highlighting New York City's efforts to pedestrianize busy corridors. The city rolled out its Open Streets program in May 2020, and its Open Restaurants program, which allowed bars and restaurants to expand outdoor seating, in June 2020 as the city struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim was to give city residents and businesses more outdoor public space to use during a time when many indoor spaces were deemed unsafe. During the first two years of the programs, the city created 100 miles of Open Streets and 12,000 restaurants took advantage of the sidewalks and streets outside their doors. 

Last October, the city and Bloomberg Associates reported that the two programs saved many businesses from closing during the pandemic, significantly boosted spending, and encouraged new businesses to open in the corridors. By the summer of 2022, the five Open Streets the report looked at had raised business revenue to 20% above pre-pandemic levels, while similar, non-pedestrianized streets nearby were down 30% in revenue. At the same time, Open Streets saw the number of businesses on them grow by 10%, while non-pedestrianized streets saw a 20% decrease in the number of businesses. Lastly, the report also found that the programs saved 100,000 jobs. 

In Astoria, Queens, the Open Street corridor saw a 44% increase in taxable sales over pre-pandemic levels, the 2022 report found. A control corridor in the neighborhood — with a similar number of businesses and access to transit — saw a 7% decrease in taxable sales in the same time period. 

And the city's hollowed-out Midtown has found that if you build it, they will come. New York's Times Square took a serious hit over the last few years. The tourist-centric neighborhood lost 179 businesses during the pandemic, but has since welcomed more than 180 new businesses, Tom Harris, president of the Times Square Alliance, recently told Insider.

However, there are downsides to Open Streets in New York City. More people in the streets can mean more noise, particularly later in the evening when neighbors are particularly sensitive to street commotion, according to a 2023 report from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health researchers. Drivers may also have a harder time navigating around closed-off streets and finding parking spots in already congested areas. 

But the benefits of pedestrianizing streets aren't just economic. Reducing or eliminating vehicle traffic also boosts safety for pedestrians, improves public health by getting more people out of cars and walking, and makes the city greener by reducing pollution.