5th Avenue & East 72nd Street

The five-way junction of 5th Avenue and East 72nd Street is in Upper East Side-Carnegie Hill, Manhattan, at the edge of Central Park. It lies on the edge of the Upper East Side Historic District. Between 2021 and 2025, seven police-reported crashes were recorded here, fewer than the median of ten crashes for a Manhattan corner. The statue “Samuel Finley Breese Morse” is 100 feet away. The nearest subway, 68 St-Hunter College, is about ten minutes on foot, for the 6. Within a five-minute walk are 20 public places and 12 places to eat.

Safety record
1 hurt
7 police-reported crashes, 2021–2025
Nearest subway
68 St-Hunter College
0.5 miles · 10 min on foot · 6
Nearest bus stop
60 feet
5 Av/E 72 St · M1, M2, M3, M4 +5
Within a walk
20 places
8 park features, 4 playgrounds and 5 more kinds, within five minutes

Map

Layers
5th Avenue & East 72nd Street Nearby corners, linked

Getting there

How walks are measured

Subway

The nearest subway station is 68 St-Hunter College, 0.5 miles from this corner, about ten minutes on foot.

  1. 68 St-Hunter College 6
    0.5 miles
    6

Next trains at this station

Uptown
1 line
  1. 6 …
Downtown
1 line
  1. 6 …

The MTA's permanent art catalog lists “Tempestuous Terrain; Liminal Location” (2024) by Lisa Corinne Davis at the 68 St-Hunter College station.

Bus

The nearest bus stop is 5 Av/E 72 St, 60 feet away, for the M1, M2, M3, M4 and five more.

  • 21 routes within a ten-minute walk
  1. 5 Av/E 72 St M1, M2, M3, M4 +5
    60 feet
    M1 M2 M3 M4 BxM6 BxM7 BxM8 BxM9 BxM10

Next buses at this stop

  1. M1 …
  2. M2 …
  3. M3 …
  4. M4 …
  5. BxM6 …
  6. BxM7 …
  7. BxM8 …
  8. BxM9 …
  9. BxM10 …

Live arrivals

A lane DOT records as a shared lane, not a bus-only lane, runs along 5th Avenue, 7am to 7pm on weekdays.

Cycling

A bike lane separated from traffic runs on Terrace Drive.

  • 19 bicycle racks within 820 feet
  • 2 more bike-share stations within a five-minute walk

Nearest bike-share station

  1. 5 Ave & E 72 St 33 docks in all
    160 feet

By car

The nearest highway entrance is the ramp to the FDR Drive southbound at East 70th Street, 1 mile by car along the streets.

  1. 1855 1st Avenue Gas station
    1.9 miles
  2. 301 East 79th Street Charging for electric cars, four Level 2 chargers
    0.4 miles
  3. 401-471 West 42nd Street Fast charging for electric cars
    2.2 miles

Safety record

How crashes are counted

Between 2021 and 2025, police reported seven crashes at this corner, fewer than the median of ten crashes for a Manhattan corner.

  • 1 person injured
  • 0 people killed
  • 1 of those hurt, on a bike

The most recent crash recorded here was in June 2026.

What the city has done here

  • Turn calming, December 2019
  • Leading pedestrian interval, February 2022

About this corner

Where facts come from
ZIP code
10021
Community board
Manhattan Community Board 8
City Council district
4 and 6 (the boundary runs through this corner)
Police precinct
19 and 22 (the boundary runs through this corner)
Neighborhood (City Planning area)
Upper East Side-Carnegie Hill; the corner is on the edge of the Central Park area
Elevation
74 feet above sea level

The streets

  • Up to four travel lanes
  • One of the streets is one-way

Homes

About 1,900 homes stand within 820 feet of this corner, most of them in buildings of ten homes or more. The buildings holding them mostly went up between 1919 and 1948.

Trees

NYC Parks records 64 trees within 330 feet; the most common is the American elm.

Parking on the streets meeting here

How signs are read
  • 45 signs on these blocks
  • 8 different rules

The sign wording is DOT's, as recorded between March 2016 and April 2026, and the sign on the street decides.

East side of 5th Avenue

  • No parking 3 signs NO PARKING MONDAY-FRIDAY 7AM-4PM
  • No parking 2 signs NO PARKING MONDAY-FRIDAY 7AM-7PM

West side of 5th Avenue

  • No standing 27 signs NO STANDING 7AM-7PM ALL DAYS
  • No standing 1 sign NO STANDING ANYTIME

North side of East 72nd Street

  • No parking 1 sign NO PARKING ANYTIME
  • No parking 6 signs NO PARKING MONDAY THURSDAY 9AM-10:30AM

South side of East 72nd Street

  • Authorized vehicles only 1 sign AUTHORIZED VEHICLES ONLY CONSUL-C DIPLOMAT-A & D LICENSE PLATES D/S DECALS ONLY
  • No parking 4 signs NO PARKING TUESDAY FRIDAY 9AM-10:30AM

Landmarks, monuments and public art

How landmarks are placed

Landmarks and historic districts

The corner stands at the edge of the Upper East Side Historic District.

Within 820 feet, 137 buildings are designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, recorded most often as neo-Italian Renaissance and neo-Renaissance, and mostly built between 1881 and 1924.

  1. Frick Art Reference Library Designated landmark
    490 feet
  2. Hotel Westbury Designated landmark
    790 feet

Monuments and public art

The City's public art inventory lists three works near this corner, the nearest in Central Park.

  1. Samuel Finley Breese Morse Statue by Byron M. Pickett, 1871
    100 feet
  2. Waldo Hutchins Memorial Exedra by Paul Howard Manship and Corrado Howard, 1932
    120 feet
  3. Richard Morris Hunt Memorial Bust by Daniel Chester French, 1898
    390 feet

Schools, parks and places within a walk

How places are listed

Twenty public places are within a five-minute walk.

  • 8 park features
  • 4 playgrounds
  • 3 religious buildings
  • 2 day care or pre-K sites
  • 1 listed historic place
  • 2 other places

Schools and child care

  1. The Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church Preschool, ages 2 to 5 · landmark
    900 feet
  2. The Hewitt Preschool School-based preschool, ages 3 to 5
    1,290 feet

Parks, playgrounds and gardens

  1. Central Park Listed historic place
    50 feet
  2. East 72nd Street Playground
    160 feet
  3. Pilgrim Hill & Conservatory Water Playground
    520 feet
Show all 13
  1. Pilgrim Hill in Central Park Park feature
    600 feet
  2. Bethesda Terrace in Central Park Park feature
    650 feet
  3. East Green in Central Park Park feature
    660 feet
  4. Conservatory Water in Central Park Park feature
    710 feet
  5. Hans Christian Andersen Statue in Central Park Park feature
    870 feet
  6. Rumsey Playfield in Central Park Park feature
    970 feet
  7. Alice in Wonderland Statue in Central Park Park feature
    970 feet
  8. Cedar Hill in Central Park Park feature
    1,140 feet
  9. Billy Johnson Playground
    1,280 feet
  10. James Michael Levin Playground
    1,280 feet

Libraries, museums and history

  1. Frick Collection Museum
    460 feet
  2. Gertrude Rhinelander Waldo Mansion Listed historic place
    620 feet

Houses of worship

  1. St James Church Landmark
    730 feet
  2. Madison Ave Presbyterian Church Landmark
    870 feet

Bank branches

  1. Chase Bank branch
    640 feet

Supermarkets

  1. Morton Williams Supermarket
    0.4 miles
  2. D'Agostino Supermarket
    0.5 miles

Food stores and places to eat

Within a five-minute walk there are 12 places to eat and one food store.

Nearby corners

The eight nearest of the 9 corners within a three-minute walk:

See every intersection along 5th Avenue, East 72nd Street or Terrace Drive.

Sources: NYC Technology and Innovation, NYPD, NYC DOT, MTA, NYC City Planning, New York City's bike-share system, NYS Environmental Conservation, US Department of Energy, Landmarks Preservation Commission, NYC Public Design Commission, NYC Parks, NYC Health, FDIC, NYS Agriculture and Markets and USDA, retrieved September 18 – October 6, 2026.