Much of Manhattan will be off limits to vehicles during the pope’s visit to New York City, with dozens of street closures, while more trains and buses will be run to handle the massive crowds, according to the NYPD and MTA.
Pope Francis arrives on Thursday, Sept. 24, and has a packed schedule on that evening and Friday. The MTA and the Port Authority said the agencies will have more cops deployed that will work closely with the Secret Service and NYPD.
Metro-North will run three extra trains in the morning on the Hudson, Harlem and New Haven lines between 10:37 and 11 a.m. on Friday. It will cancel and combine some trains to do this, and will release that information on the MTA website.
The LIRR will have eight additional trains to Penn Station on Friday between 12:19 p.m. and 1:40 p.m.
The MTA would not say how much extra subway service it will have while the pope is in town.
“Subway managers will be prepared to adjust train operations as necessary based on conditions in stations near those events,” it said in a statement.
Among the changes:
Bus service in Manhattan is expected to be snarled near papal events, and the MTA says riders may want to the subway instead.
The Port Authority said that PATH will have extra service from Journal Square and Hoboken to 33rd Street on Sept. 25, and that its bus terminals will be able to handle the traffic. On Sept. 24, many streets around St. Patrick’s Cathedral will be closed, some at midnight and some at 3 a.m. They include 50th Street from Madison Avenue to Fifth Avenue, and 51st Street from Madison Avenue to Fifth Avenue. There will only be one crosstown lane of traffic.
The FDR will also have closures throughout the day on southbound lanes at 63rd Street and northbound at South Ferry.
Streets around the Papal Nuncio’s Residence on the Upper East Side near 72nd Street will also be closed, starting at 9 a.m. on Thursday.
On Friday, the U.N. General Assembly will shut down 1st Avenue from 42nd Street to 48th Street.
Near Central Park, many streets will be closed from midnight to 7 p.m., such as Central Park West between Columbus Circle and West 81st Street. Many Upper West Side streets will be closed from Central Park West and Broadway, others from Central Park West to Columbus Avenue.
Near Madison Square Garden, 31st Street and 33rd Street will be closed all day from 7th Avenue to 9th Avenue. There will be some access on other streets, such as 31st, 32nd, and 33rd Street from 6th to Seventh Avenue.
Some streets near the 9/11 Memorial, such as Liberty Street and Cedar Street from Trinity Place to Greenwich Street, will be closed from midnight to 1 p.m. on Friday. Others, like northbound West Street from Chambers Street to Albany Street, will be closed from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Streets near Our Lady Queen of Angels School will be closed Friday to traffic from midnight to 6 p.m. on from 112th Street from 2nd Avenue to Third Avenue, as well as 113th Street on its cul-de-sac.
On Saturday, there will still be some closures on the FDR drive. They will be southbound at 63rd Street, and northbound at South Ferry.
