"Prospect Park has always been my family's backyard. 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.""?uNYC Mayor Bill de Blasio Photo: Office of the Mayor of New York City

On June, 18, 2015, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Central Park drives north of 72 Street will be permanently car-free beginning June 29. The four east-west roads that traverse Central Park will remain open to traffic.

Prospect Park's West Drive between Grand Army Plaza and Park Circle, previously open to motor traffic for two hours during weekday afternoons, will also be permanently car free starting July 6. Cars were already banned from both parks on weekends.

The park drives will become recreational paths, making each park more car-free than at any time since the first automobiles were introduced at the turn of the 20th century. More than 45 million people visit Central Park and Prospect Park each year.

Over the past two summers the New York Department of Transportation has studied the effects of restricting cars above 72nd Street in Central Park. DOT found that travel times and congestion in midtown Manhattan, near Central Park, or in Brooklyn neighborhoods near Prospect Park were not adversely affected.

"Central Park Conservancy has supported a car free park for many years. We think this is a fantastic step forward," said Doug Blonsky, president and CEO of Central Park Conservancy. "Fewer cars in Central Park will not only make it safer for recreational use, it will also make it more of a natural retreat from hectic the pace of city life which was the original intent of its creators Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. They would be very happy today as are all of us at Central Park Conservancy."