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Hell’s Kitchen’s busiest stretch is about to get a lot more breathing room, just in time for a global influx of visitors.
The NYC Department of Transportation has announced a sweeping redesign of Ninth Avenue between West 34th and 50th Streets, with construction already underway. The headline change: a new “super sidewalk” that will add 9 feet of extra pedestrian space along one of Manhattan’s most crowded corridors.
The overhaul is being fast-tracked ahead of this summer’s FIFA World Cup, when the West Side is expected to see a surge in foot traffic tied to nearby transit hubs like the Port Authority Bus Terminal and the Lincoln Tunnel. According to the DOT, pedestrians already make up more than half of Ninth Avenue’s users—yet the sidewalks haven’t kept up.
That’s about to change. In addition to the expanded pedestrian space, the redesign includes new concrete pedestrian islands at intersections to make crossings safer and less chaotic. The avenue’s protected bike lane (which was a historic first for the city when it debuted in 2007) will also nearly double in width, growing from 5 feet to 9 feet.
And for anyone who’s ever been stuck on a crawling crosstown bus: there’s good news there, too. A new red-painted curbside bus lane will run along the west side of Ninth Avenue, nearly half a mile long, and will operate daily during peak hours (7–10am and 4–7pm). The goal is to speed up service by reducing gridlock caused by cars funneling toward the Lincoln Tunnel.
The changes are also about safety. This stretch of Ninth Avenue is designated a Vision Zero priority corridor, with 37 people killed or seriously injured in the past five years.
Work is already in motion, with repaving and construction of pedestrian islands scheduled through mid-June. Additional markings will be completed during the World Cup (on non-game days) and the project is set to wrap in full by early fall.
The next time Ninth Avenue gets packed, it might finally feel like the street was built for the people actually using it.