UN General Assembly causes Manhattan street closures

Driving in Manhattan is never an exercise for the faint of heart, but the NYPD says traffic will become even more difficult this week as diplomats from around the world descend on Manhattan for the United Nations General Assembly. 

There will be street closures near the United Nations at First Avenue and East 42nd Street. Other streets in the area will have limited access. The NYPD urges people to use subways and buses to get around Manhattan. 

For those in the area during the "Gridlock Alert" days through Friday, the "key to avoiding the congestion ... is to try walking, mass transit, or riding a bicycle to get to their destination," New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said in a news release.

Closures around the United Nations include the shuttering of First Avenue from 42nd Street through 48th Street, with the exception of the tunnel underpass. The 42nd Street exit on the FDR Drive, as well as the rest of 42nd Street to Second Avenue, will also be closed during each day's session.

Other closures include 44th, 45th and 46th streets between First and Second avenues. And the FDR Drive as a whole could be shuttered intermittently as well, going north from South Ferry and south from the 63rd Street Exit.

Access to swaths of midtown will be limited, with street parking banned, including on 49th Street from First Avenue to Fifth Avenue on Monday and Tuesday and on that street from Third Avenue to Lexington Avenue from Wednesday to Saturday.

There will be more closures as well, according to the NYPD.