 Looking north from9th Street in 2007 | |
 Bronx portion | |
| Owner | City of New York |
|---|---|
| Maintained by | NYCDOT |
| Length | 10.7 mi (17.2 km)[1][2] |
| Location | Manhattan andthe Bronx inNew York City |
| Coordinates | 40°48′27″N73°55′57″W / 40.80750°N 73.93250°W /40.80750; -73.93250 |
| South end | Astor Place /St. Mark's Place inCooper Square |
| Major junctions |  FDR Drive inEast Harlem I-87 inMott Haven I-95 inMorrisania/Tremont |
| North end |  US 1 inFordham |
| East | Second Avenue |
| West | Fourth Avenue (between 8th and 14th Streets) Irving Place (between 14th and 20th Streets Lexington Avenue (north of 21st Street) |
| Construction | |
| Commissioned | March 1811 |
Third Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on theEast Side of theNew York Cityborough ofManhattan, as well as in the center portion ofthe Bronx. Its southern end is atAstor Place andSt. Mark's Place. It transitions intoCooper Square, and further south, theBowery,Chatham Square, andPark Row. The Manhattan side ends atEast 128th Street. Third Avenue is two-way from Cooper Square to24th Street, but carries only northbound (uptown) traffic while in Manhattan above 24th Street; inthe Bronx, it is again two-way. However, the Third Avenue Bridge carries vehicular traffic in the opposite direction, allowing only southbound vehicular traffic, rendering the avenue essentially non-continuous to motor vehicles between the boroughs.
The street leaves Manhattan and continues into the Bronx across theHarlem River over theThird Avenue Bridge north of East 129th Street to EastFordham Road at Fordham Center, where it intersects withU.S. 1. It is one of the four streets that formThe Hub, a site of both maximum traffic and architectural density in theSouth Bronx.[3]
Third Avenue was unpaved like most urban streets until the late 19th century. In May 1861, according to a letter to the editor ofThe New York Times, the street was the scene of practice marching for the poorly equipped troops in the7th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment: "The men were not in uniform, but very poorly dressed, — in many cases withflip-flap shoes. The business-like air with which they marched rapidly through the deep mud of Third Avenue was the more remarkable."[4]
On July 17, 1960, the section of Third Avenue in Manhattan north of 24th Street was converted into a one-way road.[5]
Starting in July 2023, a bus lane and a protected bike lane were installed on Third Avenue between 59th and 96th Streets, and that section of the avenue was narrowed from five to three vehicular travel lanes.[6][7] A double-width, 11-foot-wide (3.4 m) bike lane was added between 64th and 66th Streets, and between 80th and 82nd Streets, where the avenue slopes uphill.[8] To improve safety, traffic signals along the length of the bike lane were also retimed, allowing cyclists to pass through a "green wave" of traffic lights if they traveled at 15 miles per hour (24 km/h).[9][10]
In Manhattan, Third Avenue is covered by theThird and Lexington (or Amsterdam) Avenues buses, which are theM103, running it south of East 126th Street but terminating at East 125th Street, and theM101 andM102, running it from Astor Place to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and East 116th Street, respectively. TheM98 Limited also joins in north of East 65th Street, originates service at East 67th Street, and continues until East 127th Street. Where Third Avenue is one-way uptown, downtown buses use the parallel Lexington Avenue.
Several bus routes also run on Third Avenue in the Bronx:
The Manhattanville-boundM125 runs on three portions: from Westchester to Willis Avenues, from East 138th to East 137th Streets, and from Lincoln Avenue in the Bronx to East 128th Street in Manhattan, via theThird Avenue Bridge.
Third Avenue was the location of theThird Avenue Railroad, a horsecar line established in 1853 that evolved into one of the most extensive streetcar systems in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Westchester County. Later, it was served by theThird Avenue elevated line, which operated from 1878[11] until 1955 in Manhattan and 1973 in the Bronx. The Bx55 replaced the Third Avenue Line in the Bronx in 1973. When the El was being torn down in Manhattan, there was a movement to rename the whole of Third Avenue in Manhattan "the Bouwerie" (but not the portion in the Bronx). However, it had never been part of theBowery.[12] Today, theThird Avenue – 149th Street station (2 and 5 trains) andThird Avenue – 138th Street station (6 and <6> trains) are served by theNew York City Subway.
In Manhattan, several crosstown subway routes have entrances on Third Avenue:
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