| Columbus Avenue (59th–110th Streets) Morningside Drive (north of 110th Street) | |
 The avenue inHell's Kitchen | |
 | |
| Owner | City of New York |
|---|---|
| Maintained by | NYCDOT |
| Length | 5.7 mi (9.2 km)[1] |
| Location | Manhattan,New York City |
| South end | Greenwich Street |
| North end | Broadway above West 220th Street inInwood, Manhattan |
| East | Eighth Avenue (below 59th Street) Central Park West (59th–110th Streets) |
| West | Tenth Avenue (below 59th Street) Amsterdam Avenue (above 59th Street) |
| Construction | |
| Commissioned | March 1811 |
Ninth Avenue, known asColumbus Avenue between West59th and110th Streets, is a thoroughfare on theWest Side ofManhattan inNew York City, New York. Traffic runs downtown (southbound) from theUpper West Side toChelsea. Two short sections of Ninth Avenue also exist in theInwood neighborhood, carrying two-way traffic.
Ninth Avenue originates just south of West 14th Street atGansevoort Street in theWest Village, and extends uptown for 48 blocks until its intersection with West59th Street, where it becomesColumbus Avenue – named afterChristopher Columbus. It continues without interruption through theUpper West Side to West110th Street, where its name changes again, toMorningside Drive, and runs north throughMorningside Heights toWest 122nd Street.
A one-block stretch of Ninth Avenue between 15th and 16th Streets is also signed as "Oreo Way".[2] The firstOreo cookies were manufactured in 1912 at the formerNabisco headquarters on that block.[2]
The portion of the avenue between 14th and 31st Streets was remodeled in 2008 with abicycle lane between the eastern curb and the parking lane, followed by another portion between 77th and 96th Streets in 2011.[3]
Above theLincoln Square neighborhood—where theABC television network houses its corporate headquarters in a group of rehabilitated and modern buildings—Columbus Avenue passes through theCentral Park West Historic District, stretching from 67th/68th Streets to 89th Street. There, the avenue presents a unified streetscape of 5- to 7-story tenement buildings of brick andbrownstone with discreetRomanesque andItalianate details, employingcast terracotta details and panels and courses of angle-laid brickwork. Many ornate tincornices remain. The buildings are separated in mid-block by the narrowest of access alleys, giving glimpses ofAilanthus foliage in the side-street yards. The repeated designs of three or four commercial speculative builders, using the same features and detailing, add to the avenue's architectural unity. There are several generously scaled pre-World War I apartment buildings and the formerEndicott Hotel, as well as a small commercial block from the office ofMcKim, Mead, and White at72nd Street.
Between 77th and 81st Streets, Columbus Avenue borders theAmerican Museum of Natural History and Theodore Roosevelt Park.[4]
Ninth Avenue reappears in theInwood neighborhood as a short two-way street in two segments interrupted by theNew York City Subway's207th Street Yard. It runs from West 201st Street to West 208th Street, dead-ending at Inwood North Cove Park at theHarlem River,[1] then picks up again at West 215th Street, and terminates at Broadway between West 220th Street and theBroadway Bridge, at the location where West 221st Street would normally be.[1] The addresses along this upper stretch from 201st Street to Broadway are continuous with the lower portion of Ninth Avenue.
TheNinth Avenue Elevated was a passenger train that ran above Ninth Avenue, beginning in the nineteenth century. The lease for the line was assumed by theInterborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) on April 1, 1903.[5] The line ran until it was closed and dismantled in 1940, following thepurchase of the IRT by the City of New York, as it was made redundant by the city'sEighth Avenue subway line.
Ninth Avenue and Columbus Avenue were converted to carry one-way traffic southbound in two stages. South of its intersection with Broadway, the avenue was converted on November 6, 1948.[6][7] The remaining stretch, to 110th Street, was converted on December 6, 1951.[8]
In 2007, Ninth Avenue became the first major north-south avenue in Manhattan with a protected bike lane.[9] The bike lane initially extended only from 23rd to 16th Street.[9][10] A protected bike lane on Columbus Avenue was built between 96th and 77th Street in 2010–2011; the bike lane led to increases in vehicular speeds, since drivers were no longer stuck behind bicyclists.[11] After a $231 million project that replaced some of the water pipes under Ninth Avenue, the segment between 59th and 50th Street was narrowed to three travel lanes in March 2023, and a painted sidewalk and protected bike lane were added.[12][13]
The Ninth Avenue International Food Festivalstreet fair is held every year in May.[14]
Uptown buses use 10th Avenue unless specified below:
TheNew York City Subway'sIRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line (1 train) has a station on Columbus Avenue at66th Street and Broadway).[15]
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Notes
On April 1, 1903, the entire Manhattan Elevated system was leased to the IRT Company for 999 years. Subway system construction was planned to connect with the Els at various points. By June 25, 1903, the last steam-powered elevated train was operated in passenger service on the 9th Ave El.
