STATE OF NEW YORK
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167
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
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Introduced by M. of A. EPSTEIN, LEVENBERG, GONZALEZ-ROJAS, SIMON, BORES,
RAGA -- read once and referred to the Committee on Transportation
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to authorizing
a five mile per hour speed limit for open streets in cities having a
population in excess of one million
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subparagraph (a) of paragraph 27 of subdivision (a) of
2 section 1642 of the vehicle and traffic law, as amended by section 2 of
3 part OO of chapter 56 of the laws of 2024, is amended to read as
4 follows:
5 (a) Establishment of maximum speed limits below twenty miles per hour
6 at which motor vehicles may proceed on or along designated highways
7 within such city for the explicit purpose of implementing traffic calm-
8 ing measures as such term is defined herein or for the explicit purpose
9 of implementing an open street; provided, however, that no speed limit
10 shall be set below ten miles per hour nor shall such speed limit be
11 established where the traffic calming measure to be implemented consists
12 solely of a traffic control sign, and provided, further, that no speed
13 limit shall be set below five miles per hour on an open street. Estab-
14 lishment of such a speed limit shall, where applicable, be in compliance
15 with the provisions of sections sixteen hundred twenty-four and sixteen
16 hundred eighty-four of this title. Nothing contained herein shall be
17 deemed to alter or affect the establishment of school speed limits
18 pursuant to the provisions of section sixteen hundred forty-three of
19 this article. For the purposes of this paragraph, "traffic calming meas-
20 ures" shall mean any physical engineering measure or measures that
21 reduce the negative effects of motor vehicle use, alter driver behavior
22 and improve conditions for non-motorized street users such as pedestri-
23 ans and bicyclists, and "open street" shall mean a street or segment of
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00603-01-5
A. 167 2
1 a street designated by the New York city department of transportation as
2 such pursuant to section 19-107.1 of the administrative code of the city
3 of New York, on which motor vehicle access is controlled by barriers and
4 signage or other traffic calming measures, and on which priority is
5 given to pedestrians, individuals using bicycles, and other non-vehicu-
6 lar street users.
7 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
8 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
9 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of
10 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
11 on or before such effective date.
