West Drive in Prospect Park Is Now Officially Car-Free

New York City transportation officials have slowly been tapering off Prospect Park’s traffic flow. But as of today, drivers hoping to cut through the park via West Drive — just one last time! — will be out of luck.

Like Central Park before it, Prospect Park is now officially car-free.

Well, almost.

Although West Drive will no longer be subjected to a single car tire, East Drive, its counterpart to the east, will still be open for morning rush hour. Traffic will continue to clog up East Drive from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. on weekdays.

“Prospect Park has always been my family’s backyard,” Mayor Bill De Blasio reminisced when announcing the road closures. ”That’s a sentiment New Yorkers in every borough feel about their parks. Making the loop drives in Central and Prospect Parks permanently car-free for the first time in more than a century will make these great spaces safer, healthier and more accessible to the millions who flock to them.”

Which makes sense, as the mayor reps West Drive-adjacent Park Slope. For residents of Prospect/Lefferts Gardens — the less well-to-do area to the east — this feels a bit like a double standard.

“Growing up in Brooklyn, the park was a dividing line,” resident Diane Houslin told CBS New York.

The NYC Department of Transportation has repeatedly denied any economic bias in the lopsided changes. ”This is a matter of traffic analysis and making sure that the streets on the east side of the park are safe and not wanting to put that large a volume of cars out there quite yet,” one official told CBS.

But it appears the good people of Prospect/Lefferts Gardens won’t be content until road justice is served. We’ll keep you updated.