The New "New York" is Now Car Free

New York is now undergoing a revolution, a renewal, and drastic change for the betterment for all, as it becomes more inclined to the green movement, in efforts to pioneer in the international awareness of using clean ways to promote urbanization. How? A car-free New York.

Urban planners and developers are now understanding the need for a more sustainable environment which is why it has become the trend for most highly urbanized cities in first world countries to follow the same route, by putting car restrictions and allowing cyclists to rule the highways.

All of this can be attributed to the development of the Shared Streets initiative. The Shared Streets initiative is an event that is five hours long, and will be held throughout the weekend. The oldest parts of Manhattan turns its 60 blocks into a new landscape as it experiences a transition into becoming a clean environment safe from the intoxicating dangers of the smoke-spitting vehicles that once dominated its roads.

The local government took part in this revolutionary movement by putting signs throughout the entire location denoting that the specific streets are reserved for Shared Streets. It is along the Financial District, onto the Broadway, Water Street, and then ultimately reaching the Brooklyn Bridge and the Battery.

Polly Trottenberg, the New York City Department of Transportation commissioner says, "This is the first time that we think something of this scale and size certainly has been done in New York or any other American city."

Letitia James also supports the officer's statement by saying, "Our streets are for everyone. And before there were cars we were all cyclists and pedestrians, commuters and explorers, in this infinitely marvellous city. And today we try to return to that period."

This can somehow be compared to that of the Times Square as cars have been banned in the location since 2009. However, it is a good sign that the odds are favouring pedestrianism instead of encouraging the use of cars in urban zones.