96th Street (Manhattan)
Encyclopedia
Two-way street
A two-way street is a street that allows vehicles to travel in both directions. On most two-way streets, especially main streets, a line is painted down the middle of the road to remind drivers to stay on their side of the road. Sometimes one portion of a street is two-way, the other portion one-way...
in East Harlem and the Upper West Side
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, that lies between Central Park and the Hudson River and between West 59th Street and West 125th Street...
, which is a part of the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
borough
Borough (New York City)
New York City, one of the largest cities in the world, is composed of five boroughs. Each borough now has the same boundaries as the county it is in. County governments were dissolved when the city consolidated in 1898, along with all city, town, and village governments within each county...
of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, running from the East River
East River
The East River is a tidal strait in New York City. It connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island from the island of Manhattan and the Bronx on the North American mainland...
at the FDR Drive
Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive
The Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive is a freeway-standard parkway on the east side of the New York City borough of Manhattan...
to the Henry Hudson Parkway
Henry Hudson Parkway
The Henry Hudson Parkway is an long parkway in New York City. The southern terminus is at West 72nd Street in Manhattan, where the parkway continues south as the West Side Highway. It is often erroneously referred to as the West Side Highway throughout its entire course in Manhattan...
at the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
. It is one of the 15 hundred-foot-wide (100 feet (30.5 m)) crosstown streets mapped out in the Commissioner's Plan of 1811 that established the numbered street grid in Manhattan.
On the East Side, 96th Street forms the traditional dividing line between Yorkville
Yorkville, Manhattan
Yorkville is a neighborhood in the greater Upper East Side, in the Borough of Manhattan in New York City. Yorkville's boundaries include: the East River on the east, 96th Street on the north, Third Avenue on the west and 72nd Street to the south. However, its southern boundary is a subject of...
to the south and Spanish Harlem
Spanish Harlem
East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem and El Barrio, is a section of Harlem in the northeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. East Harlem is one of the largest predominantly Latino communities in New York City. It includes the area formerly known as Italian Harlem, in which...
to the north.
Parts of 96th Street, particularly near Second and Third Avenues, underwent significant gentrification, with luxury apartment buildings being constructed by Related Rentals beginning in the late 1980s.
The street is separated by Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
, whose West 96th street pedestrian gate is called "Gate of all Saints" and whose East 96th Street gate is called "Woodmans Gate". A sunken street through the park, often called the 97th Street Transverse road or Transverse Road #4, connects the East Side and West Side via 96th and 97th Streets.
On the West Side
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, that lies between Central Park and the Hudson River and between West 59th Street and West 125th Street...
, 96th Street runs through a natural valley, but is also regarded as the southern border of the nearby Manhattan Valley
Manhattan Valley
Manhattan Valley is a neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by West 110th Street to the north, Central Park West to the east, West 96th Street to the south, and Broadway to the west...
The street is entirely within the boundaries of ZIP Code
ZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
10025 on the West Side.
96th Street is the northern border of the New York City steam system
New York City steam system
The New York City steam system is a district heating system which takes steam produced by steam generating stations and carries it under the streets of Manhattan to heat, cool, or supply power to high rise buildings and businesses...
which pumps 30 billion pounds of steam into 100,000 buildings south of the street—the largest such system in the world.
Transportation
SubwayNew York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...
service is at these stations:
- 96th Street serving the trains at Broadway
- 96th Street96th Street (IND Eighth Avenue Line)96th Street is a local station on the IND Eighth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. It is served by the C train at all except late nights when the A train replaces it...
serving the trains at Central Park WestCentral Park WestCentral Park West is an avenue that runs north-south in the New York City borough of Manhattan, in the United States.... - 96th Street96th Street (IRT Lexington Avenue Line)96th Street is a local station on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of Lexington Avenue and 96th Street in the Carnegie Hill neighborhood of Manhattan, it is served by the 6 train at all times, the <6> during weekdays in peak direction, and...
serving the trains at Lexington AvenueLexington Avenue (Manhattan)Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated by New Yorkers as "Lex," is an avenue on the East Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City that carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street to Gramercy Park at East 21st Street... - 96th Street96th Street (IND Second Avenue Line)The 96th Street is a planned station, under construction along the Second Avenue Subway. It is the planned northern terminus for the Q during Phase 1 of the Second Avenue Subway. The station is expected to open in the late 2010s, and it will have two tracks and an island platform....
is now under construction at Second AvenueSecond Avenue (Manhattan)Second Avenue is an avenue on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan extending from Houston Street at its south end to the Harlem River Drive at 128th Street at its north end. A one-way street, vehicular traffic runs only downtown. A bicycle lane in the left hand portion from 55th...
West of Broadway, 96th Street descends steeply along a natural valley, passing under Riverside Drive
Riverside Drive (Manhattan)
Riverside Drive is a scenic north-south thoroughfare in the Manhattan borough of New York City. The boulevard runs on the west side of Manhattan, generally parallel to the Hudson River from 72nd Street to near the George Washington Bridge at 181st Street...
and connecting to Henry Hudson Parkway
Henry Hudson Parkway
The Henry Hudson Parkway is an long parkway in New York City. The southern terminus is at West 72nd Street in Manhattan, where the parkway continues south as the West Side Highway. It is often erroneously referred to as the West Side Highway throughout its entire course in Manhattan...
.