Hudson Square school block gets the city’s first permanent School Street gates
Swing-arm gates on Clarkson Street keep cars off the block during the school day, ending the daily routine of moving metal barricades.
Students at City-As-School/M721 in Hudson Square now have a car-free block protected by permanent hardware. On Tuesday, the city put swing-arm gates at both ends of Clarkson Street, the first permanent fixtures anywhere in its School Streets program.
The gates are patterned on ones outside schools in Paris. They close the block to traffic during the school day and swing open once classes end. That replaces the daily chore of hauling metal barricades into place and clearing them away again.
How the NYC School Streets program works
School Streets falls under the Department of Transportation’s broader Open Streets initiative and converts blocks beside schools into pedestrian space. Until now it depended on movable metal barriers. Those raised practical questions about who would move them, who would maintain them, where they would be kept and how to stop them from disappearing.
Officials still have to evaluate how the new gates perform. If they hold up, the same design could appear on more school blocks and on Open Streets of other kinds across the city.
Open Plans received $100,000 for the Clarkson Street work in a grant backed by General Motors, and more than a year of community engagement shaped the plan. The block is also slated to get a “Street Seat” with wooden benches and a garden space that students can share.
Few city schools take part in School Streets
The gates arrive after an August report from Comptroller Mark Levine that found low participation in the program. It blamed a long, complicated application process for keeping schools away. Just 74 schools joined in the 2025-26 school year, and only 48 of those were public schools.
A later report from Open Plans reached the same conclusion. It urged the city to copy the Clarkson Street model everywhere, through “school plaza blocks” and “limited-entry School Streets.”
Sabina Sethi Unni, who works for the group as a community planner, pointed to the more than 370 city public schools that have no on-site recreation space. She said the gate makes a sturdier, safer space that can be used every day “with less administrative burden.” “Clarkson Street is a model for expanding this program to as many schools as possible,” she said.
Quick answers
What is a School Street in NYC?
A block next to a school that is closed to cars and turned into pedestrian space. The program is part of the Transportation Department's Open Streets initiative.
Where is the first permanent School Street gate?
On Clarkson Street outside City-As-School/M721 in Hudson Square, Manhattan, with a gate at each end of the block.
How many schools take part in School Streets?
In the 2025-26 school year, 74 schools took part, and 48 of them were public schools.
