Press Releases
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 29, 2024
Contact: (212) 839-4850, press@dot.nyc.gov
Back to School: NYC DOT Launches Largest Ever Number of Open Streets at Schools
City Launches 71 Open Streets at Schools To Improve Safety, Accommodate Smoother Pick-Ups and Drop-Offs, and Create Additional Outdoor Space for Children To Play, Learn, and Socialize
The Record Number of Locations Is a Direct Result of NYC DOT’s New Investments in the Open Streets Program To Support New Locations Across the City, Including Historically Under-Resourced Communities
School children participate in activities with Street Lab on an Open Street: School. Credit: Street Lab
NEW YORK – New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez today announced the agency is launching 71 Open Streets at schools across the city, a record number of school-related Open Streets since the program launched during the height of the pandemic. Open Streets for schools enhance safety for kids, help facilitate smoother pick-ups and drop-offs for parents and guardians, and create new space for outdoor play and learning. This year's number of Open Streets for schools is the direct result of NYC DOT's concerted efforts to grow the program through new funding and partnerships.
"The streets have historically been a place for children to play and socialize—and through our Open Streets program, we have created a new framework to give this space back to our school children to safely learn, develop new skills, and make pick-ups and drop-offs much easier for parents and guardians," said NYC DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez. "This record achievement is thanks to our concerted effort to deliver new funding to the Open Streets program as well as our new partnerships with organizations like Street Lab, which help connect communities to this great concept and provide delightful programming for kids."
As part of the program, the Full Closure: Schools type of Open Street allows participating schools to temporarily close streets to vehicles for drop-off and pick-up operations, recess, and outdoor learning. Once called 'Playstreets,' New York City has a roughly 100-year-history of closing streets for children to play and to support educational opportunities. Open Streets for Schools follows in this tradition and, for the first time, established a legal structure to create streets for play and to support schools through the Open Streets program, which was codified into law in the spring of 2024.
PARTNERSHIPS
The growth in Open Streets at schools has also been fueled by a new partnership between NYC DOT and the nonprofit Street Lab, which works directly with schools to pilot and establish new Open Streets. Street Lab works with schools in these neighborhoods to help launch and establish new Open Streets, helping with permits, planning with the school and community, and transforming streets with furniture, activities, and people. Street Lab's efforts have yielded eight Open Streets for schools, with another 15 sites currently under exploration.
EQUITY INVESTMENTS
This year's historic expansion is thanks to NYC DOT's recent $30 million commitment to create and sustain high-quality public spaces like plazas and Open Streets, through the city's Public Space Equity Program (PSEP). Through the program, the city can provide maintenance, horticultural care, financial subsidies, and more to support Open Streets, plazas, and other spaces. The funding is specifically allocated for under-resourced neighborhoods, where organizations need additional support, to advance equitable placement of plazas and Open Streets across the city.
In addition to PSEP resources, NYC DOT in 2025 will for the first time offer funding to schools for Open Streets management, operations, and programming. Applications for 2025 Open Streets will open in October and will include further details about how schools can apply for and receive funding.
PERMANENT OPEN STREET REDESIGNS
NYC DOT remains committed to delivering permanent redesigns to existing Open Streets. In 2024, redesigns will be or have already been implemented on the following Open Streets:
- Jennings Street, Bronx
- 34th Ave, Queens
- Columbus Ave, Manhattan
- W 9th (Hicks), Brooklyn
- 31st Ave, Queens
- Broadway, Manhattan
- Murdock Ave, Queens
- Watkins St, Brooklyn
- W. 103rd St, Manhattan
2024 OPEN STREETS: SCHOOLS LOCATIONS
| 2024 Open Street: Schools | Borough | On Street |
| P.S. 32 The Belmont School | Bronx | Beaumont Avenue |
| Comprehensive Model School Project, MS 327 | Bronx | Goble Place |
| PS/MS 5 Port Morris School of Community Leadership | Bronx | East 150 Street |
| Public School 363 (10X363/APLE) | Bronx | Field Place |
| Middle School 390 | Bronx | Andrews Avenue South |
| IS 117: Joseph H. Wade School | Bronx | Morris Avenue |
| PS 236: Langston Hughes | Bronx | East 176 Street |
| P.S. 83 The Donald Hertz School | Bronx | Rhinelander Avenue |
| PS 28 Mount Hope | Bronx | Mount Hope Place |
| Leaders In Our Neighborhood Charter School | Bronx | Longfellow Avenue |
| PS 109 Sedgwick School | Bronx | Palisade Place |
| PS 59 Community School of Technology | Bronx | Bathgate Avenue |
| PS 118 | Brooklyn | Seventh Street |
| PS 152 | Brooklyn | East 23 Street |
| Brooklyn RISE Charter School | Brooklyn | Hanover Place |
| PS 169 Sunset Park School | Brooklyn | 43 Street |
| The Dock Street School for STEAM Studies | Brooklyn | Dock Street |
| PS 146 Brooklyn New School | Brooklyn | Rapelye Street |
| PS 137 Rachel Jean Mitchell | Brooklyn | Bainbridge Street |
| Middle School 88 | Brooklyn | 18 Street |
| Saint Saviour Catholic Academy | Brooklyn | Seventh Street |
| PS 159 The Isaac Pitkin School | Brooklyn | Hemlock Street |
| Hellenic Classical Charter Schools | Brooklyn | 18 Street |
| Riverdale Avenue Community School | Brooklyn | Strauss Street |
| The Nightingale Bamford School | Manhattan | East 92 Street |
| The École | Manhattan | East 22 Street |
| Saint David's School | Manhattan | East 89 Street |
| The Dalton School | Manhattan | East 91 Street |
| PS 528 Bea Fuller Rogers School | Manhattan | Wadsworth Avenue |
| Peck Slip School | Manhattan | Peck Slip |
| Muscota New School/Amistad | Manhattan | Academy Street |
| Academy of St. Joseph | Manhattan | Washington Place |
| School in the Square | Manhattan | Cooper Street |
| Futures Ignite | Manhattan | West 182 Street |
| Friends Seminary | Manhattan | East 16 Street |
| Friends Seminary | Manhattan | Rutherford Place |
| The Buckley School | Manhattan | East 73 Street |
| Manhattan Day School | Manhattan | West 75 Street |
| City-As School: High School M560 | Manhattan | Clarkson Street |
| The Allen-Stevenson School | Manhattan | East 78 Street |
| PS3 Charrette School | Manhattan | Grove Street |
| PS3 Charrette School | Manhattan | Bedford Street |
| NYCDOE/Washington Irving Educational Campus | Manhattan | Irving Place |
| PS 42M The Benjamin Altman School | Manhattan | Hester Street |
| Global Community Charter School | Manhattan | West 142 Street |
| NYC DoE - Community Health Academy of the Heights | Manhattan | West 158 Street |
| PS 290 The Manhattan New School | Manhattan | East 82 Street |
| PS 421M West Prep Academy, NYCPS | Manhattan | West 108 Street |
| PS 64M Robert Simon School | Manhattan | East 5 Street |
| Ballet Tech School | Manhattan | Broadway |
| P.S. 120 Queens | Queens | 136 Street |
| PS 129 | Queens | Ninth Avenue |
| The Young Women's Leadership School of Astoria | Queens | Newtown Avenue |
| P.S. 012 James B. Colgate | Queens | 72 Street |
| The Young Women's Leadership School of Astoria | Queens | 23 Street |
| PS89Q: The Jose Peralta School of Dreamers (24Q089) | Queens | Britton Avenue |
| PS201 Q | Queens | 155 Street |
| PS 330Q Helen M. Marshall | Queens | 110 Street |
| I.S.61Q Leonardo Da Vinci | Queens | 50 Avenue |
| P.S. 28Q The Thomas Emanuel Early Childhood Center | Queens | 47 Avenue |
| Thomas A. Edison CTE High School | Queens | 84 Avenue |
| Public School 273Q | Queens | 88 Avenue |
| Moving Up Children Center | Queens | 94 Street |
| Our World Neighborhood Charter School | Queens | 37 Street |
| PS14Q Fairview School | Queens | Otis Avenue |
| PS14Q Fairview School | Queens | Van Doren Street |
| PS143Q The Louis Armstrong Elementary School | Queens | 113 Street |
| NYCDOE Mosaic 3K/Pre-k Center 24Q331 @ Q364 | Queens | 41 Avenue |
| P.S. 176 The Cambria Heights School | Queens | 235 Street |
| PS 134Q: Langston Hughes School | Queens | 109 Avenue |
| PS 5 | Staten Island | Deisius Street |
"We're seeing something beautiful on these Open Streets next to schools—kids, parents, caregivers, and teachers talking with each other, laughing, running through an obstacle course, even reading a book, all together on the street," said Leslie Davol, executive director of Street Lab. "This is about more than changing streets, it is about giving people the feeling of walking out the school doors into a public space that feels safer, healthier, and more connected. We've had a flood of requests from more schools that want to start an Open Street, and we're aiming to work with as many as we can. Our approach prioritizes under-resourced neighborhoods and provides deep support so that these Open Streets can thrive and be embraced by the whole neighborhood. Street Lab also involves kids themselves in envisioning and leading these Open Streets, and it is absolutely inspiring to see their eagerness to improve their streets, their neighborhood, and the city itself. That may be the most exciting thing that's happening here."