From Sunday, September 20, moving by car to Manhattan will become much more complicated. In New York, delegations from almost 200 countries are coming for 1981 United Nations General Assembly and, together with heads of state, ministers and officials, will return road closures and car parades that every year slow mainly Midtown and East Side.
The Department of Transportation has indicated daily from Monday 21st to Friday 25th September as Gridlock Alert Days, the definition used by the city for the days in which the most intense traffic of the year is expected. According to DOT data, during the General Assembly week the average speed of vehicles in Midtown falls below four hourly miles, the lowest level of the year.
Under normal conditions, in the same area, the average is between four and six hourly miles. In the past congestion was also greater: during the General Assembly of 2017 the average speed fell to about three hourly miles, so that to travel one mile could serve up to twenty minutes. The restrictions will begin on Sunday, when the majority of delegations arrive.
According to the plan presented Thursday by City Hall and NYPD, from 20 to 26 September First Avenue will be closed between 41st and 48th Street. 44th, 45th, 46th and 47th Street will be closed to traffic in the stretch between First and Second Avenue, i.e. roads immediately around the United Nations headquarters.
Other closures will be added to these closures during working days. While meetings will take place, indicating until 21, 42nd Street will be closed between First and Second Avenue, as well as the FDR Drive exit on 42nd Street.
Not all limitations can be indicated in advance. During the week the NYPD will have to escort hundreds of car parades with heads of state, foreign ministers and other delegations from the Glass Palace, hotels, consulates, meetings and receptions organized in various areas of the city. At their passage will be possible temporary and intermittent closures also far from the UN area, which will produce difficult to predict slowdowns.
Above all, this is what makes the General Assembly week different from other particularly busy days in Manhattan: a part of the closed roads is known in advance, another depends on the movements of delegations.
The First Avenue tunnel will be used to cross the area north of the restrictions, both from cars and bicycles. From 2024 in the tunnel there is a protected cycle lane, initially experienced during the previous General Assembly and then made permanent. Those who need to reach Tudor City by car can use 41st and 43rd Street.
The DOT recommends avoiding the car when possible and using metro, trains, ferries, bicycles or walking. The council is particularly concerned with Midtown: the four hourly miles recorded on average during the UN week correspond to a speed little higher than that of a person walking in a sustained step.
Inconvenience will not only affect traffic. The NYPD said to expect more events every day during the General Assembly. As reported by Gothamist, some may lead to further closures or deviations. The police said it will ensure the protests, but it also announced a particularly extensive security device.
The general debate of the Assembly will begin on Tuesday 22 September and will continue until 28. In previous days New York will host meetings and appointments related to the so-called High-Level Week.
In addition to NYPD, the U.S. Secret Service, the Diplomatic Security Service of the State Department, the FBI and the United Nations Police will be involved. The agents will be deployed around the Glass Palace and along the movements of the delegations, with operating units also from water and air.
At the moment, he specified the NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch during the Thursday briefing, there are no specific and credible threats against the General Assembly or against New York. The increase in security measures is the annual procedure for an event that concentrates a substantial part of the world’s leading political leaders in the same city.
For those who live or work in Manhattan, the most concrete consequence will begin on Sunday. And it will not end with the General Assembly: the DOT has identified 20 Gridlock Alert Days from here at the end of 2026. After the five consecutive week, the others will be distributed between November and December, when traffic increases for the holiday season.
The UN remain statistically the worst of the year. For five days, at least according to the data collected in the previous years by the DOT, in Midtown it will often be faster to walk than to take the car.
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