New York Laws
Article 39 - Regulation of Traffic by Cities and Villages
1642 - Additional Traffic Regulations in Cities Having a Population in Excess of One Million.

(b) A city shall not lower a speed limit by more than five miles per
hour pursuant to this paragraph unless such city provides written notice
and an opportunity to comment to the community board or community boards
established pursuant to section twenty-eight hundred of the New York
city charter with jurisdiction over the area in which the lower speed
limit shall apply. Such notice may be provided by electronic mail and
shall be provided sixty days prior to the establishment of such lower
speed limit.
27. (a) Establishment of maximum speed limits below twenty-five miles
per hour at which motor vehicles may proceed on or along designated
highways within such city for the explicit purpose of implementing
traffic calming measures as such term is defined herein; provided,
however, that no speed limit shall be set below fifteen miles per hour
nor shall such speed limit be established where the traffic calming
measure to be implemented consists solely of a traffic control sign.
Establishment of such a speed limit shall, where applicable, be in
compliance with the provisions of sections sixteen hundred twenty-four
and sixteen hundred eighty-four of this chapter. Nothing contained
herein shall be deemed to alter or affect the establishment of school

speed limits pursuant to the provisions of section sixteen hundred
forty-three of this article. For the purposes of this paragraph,
"traffic calming measures" shall mean any physical engineering measure
or measures that reduce the negative effects of motor vehicle use, alter
driver behavior and improve conditions for non-motorized street users
such as pedestrians and bicyclists.
(b) Any city establishing maximum speed limits below twenty-five miles
per hour pursuant to clause (i) of this subparagraph shall submit a
report to the governor, the temporary president of the senate and the
speaker of the assembly on or before March first, two thousand fifteen
and biannually thereafter on the results of using traffic calming
measures and speed limits lower than twenty-five miles per hour as
authorized by this paragraph. This report shall also be made available
to the public by such city on its website. Such report shall include,
but not be limited to the following:
(i) a description of the designated highways where traffic calming
measures and a lower speed limit were established and
(ii) a description of the specific traffic calming measures used and
the maximum speed limit established and
(iii) a comparison of the aggregate type, number, and severity of
accidents reported on streets on which street calming measures and lower
speed limits were implemented in the year preceding the implementation
of such measures and policies and the year following the implementation
of such measures and policies, to the extent this information is
maintained by any agency of the state or the city.
(b) The police commissioner of any such city may, in any emergency,
suspend within such city or any part thereof, for a period of
forty-eight hours, any provision of title seven of this chapter or any
local law, ordinance, order, rule or regulation adopted pursuant to this
article. In the event of any such suspension, the police commissioner
shall forthwith give notice thereof to the official, board or agency of
such city having jurisdiction to promulgate traffic regulations in
relation to any place affected by such suspension.