A moment from Summer Streets 2024 in Queens. The program opens city streets for live entertainment, programming, fitness classes and fun activities all around the city. Image Credit: NYC DOT.
On July 1, 2025, Mayor Eric Adams and the Department of Transportation announced the return of Summer Streets, a program that temporarily creates car-free streets to create more outdoor safe spaces for pedestrians to enjoy. Each session of Summer Streets will run from 7 AM to 3 PM for five consecutive Saturdays between late July and August. This year’s program covers over 22 miles of streets citywide featuring live entertainment, fitness classes, cultural programs, giveaways and interactive art.
On Saturday, July 26th, residents in Queens and Staten Island can enjoy open streets in their boroughs. In Queens, Summer Streets will run along Vernon Boulevard between 44th Drive to 30th Road, which will allow New Yorkers to appreciate the Queens waterfront between Astoria and Long Island City. In Staten Island, Summer Streets will run along Forest Avenue between Broadway and Bard Avenue, which is a new Summer Streets route.
In Manhattan, Summer Streets will run from the Brooklyn Bridge to Dyckman Street on August 2, 9, and 16th. The route will run along Lafayette Street and Park Avenue up to 110th Street, go west on 110th Street to Broadway, and head north to Dyckman Street. There will be a “rest stop” along Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard between 110th Street to 125th Street that will offer programming in Harlem.
On August 23rd, Summer Streets will return to the Bronx and Brooklyn. In the Bronx, Summer Streets will run along the Grand Concourse between East Tremont Avenue to Mosholu Parkway. In Brooklyn, the program will run along Eastern Parkway from Grand Army Plaza to Buffalo Avenue.
In addition, DOT is partnering with New York Road Runners to launch the NYRR Start Line Series, which brings community-based walk and run events to Summer Streets locations. This year, as a pilot program there will be two events, in Queens on July 26th and Brooklyn on August 23rd. Registration will open later this month.
The NYC DOT Art program will also set up one-day installations to rest stops along the routes.
WABC-TV will be the official media sponsor of Summer Streets, and ALOHA Protein Bars, Brooklyn FC, C4 Performance Energy®, Chamber of Mothers, Coca-Cola, Grand Central Terminal®, MUSH, Remitly, RYZE, siggis, Stonyfield, and Yerba Madre will all serve as program sponsors.
For more information about the 2025 Summer Streets program, click here.
Mayor Adams stated, “This summer, ‘We Outside,’ and we’re bringing everyone with us. From the Brooklyn Bridge to Inwood — and across all five boroughs — New Yorkers will have more space than ever to walk, bike, run, and connect with their neighbors in their communities at our Summer Streets events. Our administration is working every day to improve quality of life in the city, expand access to public spaces, and to give New Yorkers the safe and enjoyable summer they want and deserve. We’re not just opening streets this summer, we’re opening opportunities for a more vibrant, inclusive, and active city on 22 miles of car-free streets.”
DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez stated, “New York City’s largest public space is our streets, and when summer finally arrives, we want New Yorkers to be out in the streets — walking, biking, dancing, and connecting with our neighbors. Summer Streets captures that excitement by activating our streets and transforming them into public spaces that reflect the energy and diversity of our communities. The Adams administration continues to deliver Summer Streets each year because accessible public spaces are essential for everyone.”
By: Veronica Rose (Veronica is the Editor of CityLand and a New York Law School graduate, Class of 2018.)