Two lanes on Fifth Avenue to close for pedestrians during holidays

It’s a gift to holiday shoppers — and a lump of coal for drivers.

The city Department of Transportation will temporarily turn two lanes of traffic on Fifth Avenue between 48th Street and 51st Street into concrete barrier-protected walking zones to make room for the popular shopping strip’s 20,000 pedestrians-per-hour crowds.

Beginning “shortly after Thanksgiving,” the DOT will cordon off the two 8-foot curbside lanes — one currently dedicated to cars, the other to buses — and plop down concrete barriers to keep motor vehicles out, DOT Manhattan Borough Commissioner Ed Pincar wrote in an Oct. 28 letter obtained by The Post.

As a result, pedestrians will get 40 percent more space for walking, Pincar wrote.

“The growing number of visitors around Rockefeller Center during the holiday season has led to incredibly high pedestrian volumes in the area,” he said.

“High numbers of pedestrians leads to sidewalk and corner crowding for long periods of the day and into the evening.”

The barriers — which are billed as a pilot — will come down “shortly after the New Year,” according to the letter.

The effort to add space for walking builds on past efforts by the agency to keep shoppers and other pedestrians out of the way of auto traffic.

Last year, the DOT lined Fifth Avenue’s sidewalks with concrete barriers as well as metal fences known as “French barricades,” but did not create additional pedestrian space.

The DOT did not return a request for comment.

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