Wednesday Drivers: Fifth Avenue Belongs to the Veterans Day Parade From 12:30 — Plan Crosstown Before Noon
The middle of Manhattan closes at midday Wednesday, and it closes for the right reason. The 107th Veterans Day Parade steps off at 12:30 p.m. and marches Fifth Avenue from the mid-20s to 48th Street — which means the avenue, its crossings, and the streets around Madison Square Park are a pedestrian's map from late morning until mid-afternoon.
Start with the closure itself. The parade route runs north on Fifth Avenue between 25th and 48th Streets, with dispersal on East and West 45th Street between Sixth and Madison Avenues, and the city's Weekly Traffic Advisory lists the Wednesday closures at the NYPD's discretion — in practice, the avenue and its cross streets along the route go to the march well before the 12:30 p.m. step-off. The morning's first gathering point is Madison Square Park, where the wreath-laying ceremony begins at 10:55 a.m. at the Eternal Light Flagstaff, so the Flatiron streets tighten earlier than the parade hour suggests.
The parade is produced by the United War Veterans Council, which has run it since 1986 in a tradition reaching back to 1919; this 107th edition marks the 250th birthday of the United States, is led by Grand Marshal Sunita 'Suni' L. Williams, the retired Navy astronaut, with Navy veteran Vicki Bello as honorary marshal, and runs about three hours. WABC-TV carries it live from 12:30 p.m. — the viewing option that asks nothing of the road network at all.
Downtown has its own separate closure: a Veterans Day festival shuts Broadway between Liberty Street and Battery Place in Lower Manhattan, so the island's two ends are both in event mode on the same day. The rest of the holiday's street rules: alternate side parking is suspended, but parking meters remain in effect — Veterans Day is not a major legal holiday on the city's parking calendar — and there is no trash, recycling or compost collection, with public schools and government offices closed.
The planning rule for Wednesday is simple. Crosstown trips through Midtown belong before noon or after the parade clears; the subway runs under all of it untouched; and any driver whose route crosses Fifth Avenue between 25th and 48th at midday should treat the avenue the way the city will — as a parade ground, not a road.
