"It took us only 20 years, but we got it done!" That's how the pedestrian advocacy group CHEKPEDS put it this fall. The group was writing about the Ninth Avenue redesign that DOT built this summer. It traces back to a 2007 plan called the 9th Avenue Renaissance, drawn up with input from a large group of residents. According to CHEKPEDS, that plan's Option B called for the design that's on the street today.
Twenty years of advocacy produced the concrete. Over the last three months, the work has turned into deciding who is allowed to stand, ride, park, and unload on it. Most of that work has run through Manhattan Community Board 4, and it isn't finished.
What actually got built between 34th and 51st
DOT announced the project on March 19, 2026, describing it as a redesign of Ninth Avenue from West 34th to West 50th Street. It added nine feet of pedestrian space on the east side, widened the protected bike lane, and extended a painted bus lane north to 50th. The release explained the reason. On this stretch, more than half of the people using the corridor are on foot, and the avenue sits between the Port Authority Bus Terminal and the Lincoln Tunnel. The release also noted that in 2007 this same street became the first in New York City with a dedicated on-street protected bike lane.
On the ground, the design changes partway up the avenue.
| Stretch | What's there now |
|---|---|
| Below West 42nd Street | Wider east-side sidewalk, 9-foot bike lane, new planted islands |
| Above West 42nd Street | Wider east-side sidewalk, 9-foot bike lane, red-painted bus lane on the west side |
| The whole length | Bike parking added at cross streets |
The red paint has a practical purpose. According to CHEKPEDS, it was painted so that enforcement cameras can be installed. In DOT's project presentation, the curbside bus lane runs every day from 7 to 10 a.m. and from 4 to 7 p.m. The same plan includes corner curb extensions, new concrete and painted islands at eastbound cross streets, and bike parking at the cross streets.
The two sources give different north ends. DOT's release says 50th Street, while CHEKPEDS describes the work as running to 51st. Either way, this summer's work fills a gap. W42ST reported in March that earlier phases had already widened the sidewalk from West 50th to 58th Street and from West 30th to 34th. So for the first time, a pedestrian can walk the east side of Ninth from the low 30s into the high 50s on widened sidewalk. CHEKPEDS reported neighbors saying the walk from West 30th to West 57th feels different, especially around 5 p.m., without having to step into the bike lane or around sandwich boards.
The space filled with more than pedestrians
Wide, smooth pavement attracts more than people walking. At its July 22 full board meeting, Community Board 4 voted 40–0 to send two letters, both dated August 19. Both are about people treating the new sidewalk as something other than a sidewalk.
The first, addressed to DOT's Manhattan Borough Commissioner, followed a collision between a pedicab and a cyclist on the corridor. It raised two problems that anyone walking the avenue would recognize:
- The triangle islands in the West 40s. The bike lane zigzags at these points. In the West 30s the triangles are poured in concrete. In the West 40s they had no physical protection when the board wrote, and the board said they are "chronically used as illegal parking."
- Corner-cutting cyclists. When cyclists turn left from a cross street onto the avenue, they often cut the corner through the pedestrian space instead of going around the concrete refuge. That puts them on the bulb-outs, where people on foot are waiting.
The board asked DOT for "no bike" decals on the bulb-outs, "walk only" stenciling, and a one-way sign at the Citi Bike station on West 43rd Street between Ninth and Tenth, where it said riders were going the wrong way.
The second letter went to Instacart, ALDI, and Amazon. The board wrote that delivery workers had been seen riding on the sidewalk between Ninth and Eighth Avenues to reach stores. It asked Instacart and ALDI, which has a location at 311 West 42nd Street, to teach their riders the legal routes. It also asked Amazon to tell its cargo-bike riders that the new space is a sidewalk and not a place to ride, park, or stage deliveries. In the board's words, "A wide bike lane and ample vehicular parking exist nearby and should be used instead." The board also said it had asked the local precinct to step up enforcement in the area.
The board has backed the project from the start. In January it urged DOT to build the redesign this year, on a 43–1 vote. By April it was already asking for stronger separation between the pedestrian, bike, and parking zones, along with enforcement against illegal parking and shorter commercial parking limits to cut down on double-parked delivery trucks. The August letters continue that same push. The board got the space it asked for and is now working on how the space gets used.
The remaining pieces are the ones that decide how people use it
According to the August letter, most of the remaining work is physical barriers, and the board wrote that some of them may help with the corner-cutting problem. DOT committed to finishing several items.
- Concrete and signal work at 42nd Street
- Gravel markings at the islands and curb extensions
- The 34th to 35th Street block of the super sidewalk, which the letter said was blocked by NYPD Midtown South parking
- Hoop racks at the 36th and 37th Street islands
- Added delineation, which was still being designed when the letter was written
- Planters and select granite blocks
- Bike corrals, which go in after the planters and granite
The board wrote that the planters, granite blocks, and bike corrals "may help address" the corner-cutting problem, and it asked for the signage alongside them. Much of what makes the sidewalk work for people on foot depends on those last few items. A granite block or a planter physically keeps a cargo bike or a parked car off the space in a way paint can't.
CHEKPEDS wrote that "a few items" were still to be completed in October. If you walk the avenue this week, check the West 40s triangles and the bulb-outs at the corners. Planters and granite there are a sign the finishing work has reached those spots, and bike corrals come after them.
Who's opening along the wider sidewalk
The avenue alongside the new sidewalk has also been changing this fall.
At the north end, Eater reported that Monkey Thief, the pan-Asian cocktail bar, reopened on August 14 at 754 Ninth Avenue, at West 51st Street. It's a bigger space than its first location, with three rooms. The Court is inspired by Southeast Asian streets and courtyards, the Train Car is designed to evoke rail travel, and the Den is a smaller room with its own menu. The food menu includes fried chicken bao and a Thai tea Basque cheesecake. The bar's address puts it right at the corner where the new segment meets the older widened stretch to the north.
A few blocks further up, W42ST reported in early October on The Tiger Club, a cocktail bar and restaurant with live jazz. It's at 852 Ninth Avenue.
Down at West 39th Street, the hotel formerly called Cassa now operates as Truss Hotel Times Square under new management. W42ST noticed signs in its windows advertising an incoming steakhouse but didn't identify it. Separately, the Astoria steakhouse VIDA lists VIDA Midtown as "coming soon" at 511 Ninth Avenue. It describes the location as roughly 7,500 square feet "within the Truss Hotel Times Square corridor" and says development is underway, without giving an opening date.
Ninth Avenue already has a reputation for food. DOT's own release describes the stretch as "a culinary destination, with dozens of restaurants and other food-related businesses." The difference this fall is the extra nine feet of sidewalk in front of those businesses. Whether that space stays open to people walking depends on the planters and on how much enforcement the board's requests produce.
One block west, a long-running bar is closing
Tenth Avenue is changing too. W42ST reported that Scruffy Duffy's, at 639 10th Avenue between West 45th and 46th Streets, has set November 29 as its last night. That leaves regulars about a month to stop in. The bar started on Eighth Avenue before moving to its current Tenth Avenue spot. As of mid-October, What Now New York reported that The Tenth Line, a gastropub, plans to take over the space and was still working through permits and licenses. It hasn't announced an opening date.
On the river, Hudson River Park's Pumpkin Smash is at Pier 84 on Saturday, November 7, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Walking from Ninth Avenue, you'll be on the widened east-side sidewalk until you turn west toward the water.
Hell's Kitchen streets like this one are a big part of what Ava Anz pays attention to when she advises clients on which block fits how they live. If you're weighing a home near Ninth Avenue and want to know how the street works at 8 a.m., at 5 p.m., and on a Saturday night, schedule a consultation with Ava.
