First Avenue (Manhattan)

Template:Attached KML/First Avenue (Manhattan)

KML is from Wikidata

First Avenueis a north-south thoroughfare on theEast Sideof theNew York CityboroughofManhattan,running fromHouston Streetnorthbound to127th Street.At125th Street,most traffic continues onto theWillis Avenue Bridgeover theHarlem River,which continues intothe Bronx.South of Houston Street, the roadway continues asAllen Streetsouth to Division Street. Traffic on First Avenue runs northbound (uptown) only.

First Avenue

Looking south down 1st Avenue from theRoosevelt Island Tramway
Owner	City of New York
Maintained by	NYCDOT
Length	6.3 mi (10.1 km)
Location	Manhattan,New York City
South end	Houston/Allen StreetsinLower East Side
Major junctions	FDR Drive/Willis Avenue BridgeinEast Harlem
North end	East 127th Streetin East Harlem
East	Avenue A(Houston–14th Sts) Sutton Place(53rd–59th Sts) York Avenue(59th–92nd Sts) Pleasant Avenue(114th–120th Sts)
West	Second Avenue
Construction
Commissioned	March 1811

History

Like most of Manhattan's major north-south Avenues, First Avenue was proposed as part of theCommissioners' Plan of 1811for Manhattan, which designated 12 broad north-south Avenues running the length of the island. The southern portions of the Avenue were cut and laid out shortly after the plan was adopted.The northern sections of the Avenue would be graded and cut through at various intervals throughout the 19th century as the northward development of the island demanded.

TheIRT Second Avenue Lineran above First Avenue fromHouston Streetto23rd Streetbefore turning west at 23rd and then north ontoSecond Avenue.This elevated line was torn down in 1942.

First Avenue has carried one-way traffic since June 4, 1951.

The tunnel on First Avenue adjacent to the west side of theHeadquarters of the United Nationsopened to traffic on April 3, 1953.This vehicular tunnel was constructed to provide a bypass for through traffic, reducing traffic volumes on the street level above the tunnel, which was intended to function as a local service road for the United Nations complex and the blocks on the west side of First Avenue.The 1,377-foot-long (420 m) tunnel runs between portals at42ndand47thstreets.While the tunnel has always operated one-way in the northbound direction, it was originally designed to accommodate separate lanes for northbound and southbound traffic because First Avenue was a two-way street prior to the start of the tunnel's construction.Work on the project commenced on August 1, 1949 with the relocation of the subsurface utilities that were located in the path of the tunnel.

A protectedbike lanewas established along the left side of the avenue south of50th Streetin 2011.From 2019 to 2023, a temporary bike lane was established in the tunnel on First Avenue adjacent to the United Nations headquarters to provide a detour for bicyclists when the street level bike lane was closed as a security measure during thegeneral debate of the United Nations General Assembly.A permanent bike lane in the tunnel was planned for implementation prior to the start of theUnited Nations General Assembly's 79th sessionin September 2024.

Description

First Avenue passes through a variety of neighborhoods.

Starting in the south at Houston Street, First Avenue passes through theEast Village,once a predominantly German and Jewish neighborhood, now a gentrified area populated mostly byhipstersandyuppies.First Avenue then runs by two largeurban developmentprojects,Stuyvesant TownandPeter Cooper Village,two middle-income housing developments that sit on what used to be theGashouse District,an industrial area. These fill the east side of the avenue from14thto23rdStreets. The avenue is very wide in this segment, and is separated by amedian.The New YorkVeterans Affairs Medical Center,theBellevue Hospital,andNYU Langone Healthfill the blocks from there to34th Street.Between 42nd and 48th streets, the avenue runs past United Nations Headquarters. Here a local bypass, United Nations Plaza, splits from the main road, which runs through the First Avenue Tunnel, rejoining the local street at49th Street.

Crossing under theQueensboro Bridgeand entering theUpper East Side,First Avenue runs through a number of residential areas. It serves as one of the main shopping streets of theYorkvilleneighborhood, historically a working class German and Hungarian neighborhood, today a wealthy enclave of upper-class residents. In this district, First Avenue is also known as "Bedpan Alley" (a play on "Tin Pan Alley") because of the large number ofhospitalslocated nearby.

Crossing96th Street,First Avenue runs throughSpanish Harlem,a historically Puerto Rican neighborhood. Before Puerto Rican migration in the 1950s, much of this district was populated by Italians and known as "Italian Harlem".First Avenue in Italian Harlem was the site of a major open-air pushcart market in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. There is still a small Italian enclave in the Pleasant Valley district of East Harlem, between 114th and 120th Streets. The northern reaches of First Avenue, north of roughly110th Streethave also seen a significant increase in Mexican residents.

First Avenue then connects to theWillis Avenue Bridge,which crosses theHarlem Riverat125th Streetand connects to Willis Avenue inthe Bronx.A separate segment of First Avenue runs southbound from 127th Street to 125th, and feeds traffic from theHarlem River DriveandRFK Bridgeinto East Harlem.

Transportation

The primary First Avenue server is theM15/M15+ Select Bus.It runs uptown fromHouston Streetto East 126th Street, while downtown buses use the parallelSecond Avenue.

Other bus routes include the following:

• The uptownM9runs on it between East 20th and East 29th Streets, terminating atBellevue Hospitalat East 26th Street.
• The westboundM42runs from East 41st to East 42nd Streets.
• The eastboundM50runs from East 48th to East 49th Streets, then turns left to terminate.
• The westboundM57runs from East 55th, where it originates, to East 57th Streets.
• The westboundM72runs from East 71st to East 72nd Streets.
• The uptownM31and eastboundM86+ Select Bus run from East 91st to East 92nd Streets. The former heads right before terminating, and the latter after.
• The eastboundM96runs from East 96th to East 97th Streets, then turns left to terminate.
• The westboundM106runs from East 105th to East 106th Streets.
• The eastboundM116runs from East 116th Street to Paladino Avenue.
• The eastboundM125runs from East 124th Street to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, then heads to the Bronx via the parallel Willis Avenue Bridge.

TheBMT Canarsie Linehas astationat14th Street.

In popular culture

• The opening scene ofGhostbusters IIwas filmed at the intersection of First Avenue and 77th Street.
• In theSeinfeldTV series,Kramerdescribes the intersection of First Avenue and1st Streetas the "nexus of the universe". This provided the name for a nightclub called the Nexus Lounge at that location.

Gallery

• 
  Bike lane on First Avenue
• 
  Looking south on First Avenue from 13th Street during the demolition of theSecond Avenue Elin September 1942
• 
  United Nations headquartersat First Avenue and 42nd Street

External links

• Media related to1st Avenue (Manhattan)at Wikimedia Commons
• New York Songlines: First Avenue,a virtual walking tour