The largest-ever car-free Earth Day celebration is coming to NYC on April 22

Every year on April 22, more than 190 countries and over a billion people celebrate Earth Day, and New York City is no exception. The largest and one of the busiest cities in the United States will stop car traffic on some streets to celebrate Earth Day. In 2016, Open Streets: Car-Free Earth Day turned some Manhattan streets into car-free zones. Since then, this initiative has expanded to all five boroughs. 

This year, the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) announced the largest-ever celebration of Open Streets: Car-Free Earth Day. The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and include seven signature event locations and 23 community-produced locations. On this day, New Yorkers are invited to attend performances and fitness training, as well as participate in giveaways and educational activities.

"Open Streets: Car-Free Earth Day is about encouraging New Yorkers to leave their vehicles at home and enjoying our city's parks, plazas, and expanded network of Open Streets," said DOT Commissioner Rodriguez. "This celebration offers an opportunity to get outdoors and enjoy activities at dozens of locations in communities around New York City. It also serves as a reminder that we only have one planet -- and we must all do our part to reduce our carbon footprint and pay homage to the one beautiful planet we have."

This year, there will be three signature locations in Manhattan and one in each of the outer boroughs. The list of car-free streets includes Dyckman Street, St. Nicholas Avenue, Broadway, Troutman Street, Woodside Avenue, Willis Avenue & Roberto Clemente Plaza, and Minthorne Street. The Open Streets: Car-Free Earth Day will connect a total of 80 open streets and plazas. 

New Yorkers looking to give up their cars on Earth Day would also be able to take advantage of the free bike rides, accessing 1,000 miles of New York City's bike network. Lyft and Citi Bike supported the Car-Free Earth Day by offering unlimited 30-minute rides on a classic Citi Bike for 24 hours. Bikers will need to use promo code CARFREE23 in the Citi Bike app to access this offer. 

Image credit:

New York City Department of Transportation (Flickr)

Resources: 

“NYC DOT to Kick off Open Streets Season With Largest-Ever Celebration of Open Streets: Car-Free Earth Day,” (NYC, 2023)

“NYC to host largest-ever car-free Earth Day celebration,” by Aaron Ginsburg (6sqft, 2023)

“These NYC streets and boroughs will be going car-free in April,” by Anna Rahmanan (Time Out, 2023)