Ninth Avenue (Manhattan)

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Ninth Avenue
Columbus Avenue (59th–110th Streets)
Morningside Drive (north of 110th Street)
9th-food.jpg
The avenue in Hell's Kitchen
Ninth Avenue (Manhattan)
Owner City of New York
Maintained by NYCDOT
Length5.7 mi (9.2 km) [1]
Location Manhattan, New York City
South end Greenwich Street
North endBroadway above West 220th Street in Inwood, Manhattan
East Eighth Avenue (below 59th Street)
Central Park West (59th–110th Streets)
West Tenth Avenue (below 59th Street)
Amsterdam Avenue (above 59th Street)
Construction
Commissioned March 1811

Ninth Avenue, known as Columbus Avenue between West 59th and 110th Streets, is a thoroughfare on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. Traffic runs downtown (southbound) from the Upper West Side to Chelsea. Two short sections of Ninth Avenue also exist in the Inwood neighborhood, carrying two-way traffic.

Contents

Description

Ninth Avenue originates just south of West 14th Street at Gansevoort Street in the West Village, and extends uptown for 48 blocks until its intersection with West 59th Street, where it becomes Columbus Avenue – named after Christopher Columbus. It continues without interruption through the Upper West Side to West 110th Street, where its name changes again, to Morningside Drive, and runs north through Morningside Heights to West 122nd Street.

A one-block stretch of Ninth Avenue between 15th and 16th Streets is also signed as "Oreo Way". [2] The first Oreo cookies were manufactured in 1912 at the former Nabisco headquarters on that block. [2]

The portion of the avenue between 14th and 31st Streets was remodeled in 2008 with a bicycle lane between the eastern curb and the parking lane, followed by another portion between 77th and 96th Streets in 2011. [3]

Above the Lincoln Square neighborhood—where the ABC television network houses its corporate headquarters in a group of rehabilitated and modern buildings—Columbus Avenue passes through the Central Park West Historic District, stretching from 67th/68th Streets to 89th Street. There, the avenue presents a unified streetscape of 5- to 7-story tenement buildings of brick and brownstone with discreet Romanesque and Italianate details, employing cast terracotta details and panels and courses of angle-laid brickwork. Many ornate tin cornices remain. The buildings are separated in mid-block by the narrowest of access alleys, giving glimpses of Ailanthus foliage in the side-street yards. The repeated designs of three or four commercial speculative builders, using the same features and detailing, add to the avenue's architectural unity. There are several generously scaled pre-World War I apartment buildings and the former Endicott Hotel, as well as a small commercial block from the office of McKim, Mead, and White at 72nd Street.

Between 77th and 81st Streets, Columbus Avenue borders the American Museum of Natural History and Theodore Roosevelt Park. [4]

Ninth Avenue reappears in the Inwood neighborhood as a short two-way street in two segments interrupted by the New York City Subway's 207th Street Yard. It runs from West 201st Street to West 208th Street, dead-ending at Inwood North Cove Park at the Harlem River, [1] then picks up again at West 215th Street, and terminates at Broadway between West 220th Street and the Broadway Bridge, at the location where West 221st Street would normally be. [1] The addresses along this upper stretch from 201st Street to Broadway are continuous with the lower portion of Ninth Avenue.

History

The Ninth Avenue Elevated was a passenger train that ran above Ninth Avenue, beginning in the nineteenth century. The lease for the line was assumed by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) on April 1, 1903. [5] The line ran until it was closed and dismantled in 1940, following the purchase of the IRT by the City of New York, as it was made redundant by the city's Eighth Avenue subway line.

Ninth Avenue and Columbus Avenue were converted to carry one-way traffic southbound in two stages. South of its intersection with Broadway, the avenue was converted on November 6, 1948. [6] [7] The remaining stretch, to 110th Street, was converted on December 6, 1951. [8]

In 2007, Ninth Avenue became the first major north-south avenue in Manhattan with a protected bike lane. [9] The bike lane initially extended only from 23rd to 16th Street. [9] [10] A protected bike lane on Columbus Avenue was built between 96th and 77th Street in 2010–2011; the bike lane led to increases in vehicular speeds, since drivers were no longer stuck behind bicyclists. [11] After a $231 million project that replaced some of the water pipes under Ninth Avenue, the segment between 59th and 50th Street was narrowed to three travel lanes in March 2023, and a painted sidewalk and protected bike lane were added. [12] [13]

The Ninth Avenue International Food Festival street fair is held every year in May. [14]

Transportation

Uptown buses use 10th Avenue unless specified below:

The New York City Subway's IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line ( 1 train) has a station on Columbus Avenue at 66th Street and Broadway). [15]

Points of interest

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madison Avenue</span> North-south avenue in Manhattan, New York

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Avenue (Manhattan)</span> North-south avenue in Manhattan, New York

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sixth Avenue</span> North-south avenue in Manhattan, New York

Sixth Avenue, also known as Avenue of the Americas, is a major thoroughfare in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The avenue is commercial for much of its length, and traffic runs northbound, or uptown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IRT Ninth Avenue Line</span> Former New York City rapid transit line

The IRT Ninth Avenue Line, often called the Ninth Avenue Elevated or Ninth Avenue El, was the first elevated railway in New York City. It opened in July 1868 as the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway, as an experimental single-track cable-powered elevated railway from Battery Place, at the south end of Manhattan Island, northward up Greenwich Street to Cortlandt Street. By 1879 the line was extended to the Harlem River at 155th Street. It was electrified and taken over by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company in 1903.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seventh Avenue (Manhattan)</span> North-south avenue in Manhattan, New York

Seventh Avenue—co-named Fashion Avenue in the Garment District and known as Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard north of Central Park—is a thoroughfare on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is southbound below the park and a two-way street north of it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eighth Avenue (Manhattan)</span> Avenue in Manhattan, New York

Eighth Avenue is a major north–south avenue on the west side of Manhattan in New York City, carrying northbound traffic below 59th Street. It is one of the original avenues of the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 to run the length of Manhattan, though today the name changes twice: At 59th Street/Columbus Circle, it becomes Central Park West, where it forms the western boundary of Central Park, and north of 110th Street/Frederick Douglass Circle, it is known as Frederick Douglass Boulevard before merging onto Harlem River Drive north of 155th Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Avenue (Manhattan)</span> North-south avenue in Manhattan, New York

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tenth Avenue (Manhattan)</span> North-south avenue in Manhattan, New York

Tenth Avenue, known as Amsterdam Avenue between 59th Street and 193rd Street, is a north-south thoroughfare on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City. It carries uptown (northbound) traffic as far as West 110th Street, after which it continues as a two-way street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">59th Street (Manhattan)</span> West-east street in Manhattan, New York

59th Street is a crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, running from York Avenue and Sutton Place on the East Side of Manhattan to the West Side Highway on the West Side. The three-block portion between Columbus Circle and Grand Army Plaza is known as Central Park South, since it forms the southern border of Central Park. There is a gap in the street between Ninth Avenue/Columbus Avenue and Columbus Circle, where the Deutsche Bank Center is located. While Central Park South is a bidirectional street, most of 59th Street carries one-way traffic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hudson Street (Manhattan)</span> Street in Manhattan, New York

Hudson Street is a north–south oriented street in the New York City borough of Manhattan running from Tribeca to the south, through Hudson Square and Greenwich Village, to the Meatpacking District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M11 (New York City bus)</span> Bus route in Manhattan, New York

The Ninth and Tenth Avenues Line or Ninth Avenue Line is a surface transit line in the New York City borough of Manhattan, running mostly along Ninth Avenue and Amsterdam Avenue from Lower Manhattan to Manhattanville. Originally a streetcar line operated by the Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority, it is now the M11 bus route operated by the New York City Transit Authority under the MaBSTOA subsidiary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M7 (New York City bus)</span> Bus route in Manhattan, New York

The M7 is a public transit line in Manhattan, New York City, running mostly along Columbus Avenue, 116th Street, and Lenox Avenue from Lower Manhattan to Harlem. The route was originally the Columbus Avenue Line streetcar, and is now a bus route operated by the New York City Transit Authority.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dyckman Street</span> Street in Manhattan, New York

Dyckman Street, occasionally called West 200th Street, is a street in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It is commonly considered to be a crosstown street because it runs from the Hudson River to the Harlem River and intersects Broadway. However, in its true geographical orientation, Dyckman Street runs roughly from north-northwest to south-southeast, and the majority of the street that lies southeast of Broadway runs closer to a north-south direction than east-west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Varick Street</span> Street in Manhattan, New York

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lafayette Street</span> Street in Manhattan, New York

Lafayette Street is a major north–south street in New York City's Lower Manhattan. It originates at the intersection of Reade Street and Centre Street, one block north of Chambers Street. The one-way street then successively runs through Chinatown, Little Italy, NoLIta, and NoHo and finally, between East 9th and East 10th streets, merges with Fourth Avenue. A buffered bike lane runs outside the left traffic lane. North of Spring Street, Lafayette Street is northbound (uptown)-only; south of Spring Street, Lafayette is southbound (downtown)-only.

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 "Ninth Avenue / Columbus Avenue" (Map). Google Maps . Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  2. 1 2 Hinkley, David (2012-05-20). "Celebrating the life of 'Mr. Oreo'". New York Daily News . Archived from the original on June 13, 2012. Retrieved 2012-06-02.
  3. Olea, Rebecca (October 12, 2011). "Columbus Ave. bike path gets two thumbs up". Crain's New York Business .
  4. "Theodore Roosevelt Park". www.nycgovparks.org. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
  5. Feinman, Mark S. "Continuing the Story of the 9th Avenue El" . Retrieved 2009-08-04. On April 1, 1903, the entire Manhattan Elevated system was leased to the IRT Company for 999 years. Subway system construction was planned to connect with the Els at various points. By June 25, 1903, the last steam-powered elevated train was operated in passenger service on the 9th Ave El.
  6. Ingraham, Joseph C. (7 November 1948). "Traffic Speeded on 9th, 10th Aves. By One-way Plan". The New York Times . Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  7. "Ninth and Tenth Avenues Are One Way Permanently". The New York Times. 14 May 1949. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  8. "Two More Avenues One-way Thursday". The New York Times. 4 December 1951. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  9. 1 2 Neuman, William (September 23, 2007). "A Busy City Street Makes Room for Bikes". The New York Times. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  10. Hogarty, Dave (September 23, 2007). "Cars To Protect Cyclists on 9th Ave". Gothamist. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  11. Stromberg, Joseph (September 8, 2014). "Bike lanes have actually sped up car traffic in New York City". Vox. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  12. "'Super Sidewalks' Hit Midtown: Check Out the New Ninth Avenue". NBC New York. March 21, 2023. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  13. "NYC traffic: City cuts ribbon on improvements along 9th Avenue corridor in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan". abc7ny.com. March 21, 2023. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  14. Ninth Avenue International Food Festival
  15. 1 2 "Manhattan Bus Map" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. July 2019. Retrieved December 1, 2020.