Squeezed by Crowds, the Roads of Central Park Are Being Reimagined

Bloomberg

2 days ago

When Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux presented their design for New York City's Central Park — then called Greensward — in 1858, they designated spaces by speed. The park's traverses could handle crosstown carriages. Bridle paths were for foot traffic. And the drives would be treated as a promenade for all, split first between pedestrians, soon bicycles, and, later, cars.
'There should be separation of ways, as in parks and parkways, for efficiency and amenity of movement,' Olmsted wrote, 'and to avoid collision or the apprehension of collision, between different kinds of traffic.'