By Jim Scott
DNAinfo Senior Editor
MANHATTAN — The NYPD will start closing down streets on Friday afternoon in preparation for the New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square.
More than a million people are expected to crowd into Midtown streets around Time Square to ring in 2011. Hundreds of people were in Times Square early Friday morning staking out the best spots to watch the ball drop at midnight.
Several street closures and parking restrictions instituted by the NYPD are expected to cause traffic delays
Times Square will be closed to all vehicle traffic beginning at 3 p.m. NYPD officers will direct people into separate viewing sections that hold 1,000 people each. When one section fills up, people will be directed to the next viewing section, the NYPD said in a statement.
The sections begin near 43rd Street and continue up Seventh Avenue and Broadway all the way to Central Park.
People attending the festivities will not be permitted to bring backpacks or large bags into Times Square. All alcoholic beverages are also prohibited.
People who leave their spot before the ball drops will not be allowed to get back to their original viewing area, police said.
The NYPD announced there will be no parking on most streets from 34th to 59th streets and from Fifth Avenue to Ninth Avenue until 1 a.m. on Saturday.
Police will begin prohibiting vehicle traffic on streets around Times Square at about 2:30 p.m. Most streets in Midtown will be closed to traffic by 6:30 p.m. Drivers should avoid all cross-town streets between 34th to 59th streets, as well as Sixth and Eighth avenues.
The subway is the best bet for revelers planning to celebrate the end of 2010 in Times Square.
However, some subway access in the area will be closed beginning at 7 p.m.
The following subway system changes should be noted:
Southbound and northbound N, R and W lines will skip the 49th Street station beginning at 7 p.m. until about 12:15 a.m. Saturday. Northbound 1 trains will skip the 50th Street station at 7 p.m.
The NYPD will be on the lookout for drivers who have too many celebratory drinks. Police made 8,245 drunken driving arrests in New York City this year and seized 1,290 vehicles from drunk drivers so far in 2010.