MTR 212, East River Bike Access Looking Up ?

Mobilizing the Region

Issue 212

March 19, 1999

East River Bike Access Looking Up ?

The current Transportation Alternatives magazine says NYC officials will re-implement a 24-hour bike/pedestrian lane on the Queensboro Bridge in September. Bike and ped access to the bridge, the only crossing between Queens and Midtown Manhattan, has been a hotly contested issue since the 1970s. Most recently, the city has allowed cars to use the lane during evening peak hours since 1996. That move was the result of NYC DOT's gridlock-creating reorganization of traffic patterns at the Manhattan end of the bridge. Politically-connected Upper East Siders subsequently demanded that all bridge lanes be used to move cars out of their neighborhood. T.A.'s account does not explain why NYC has announced the 24-hour bike lane now, or whether the lane will be engineered as a permanent bike lane or instead structured so that it can be re-appropriated for cars in the future.

The city opened a new bike/ped path on the Williamsburg Bridge in February, giving cyclists the first smooth crossing of the span in several generations. The path within the bridge's main superstructure is permanent, but the steep ramp to Brooklyn and the stairway-encumbered Manhattan approach are temporary. Better ramp access is pending completion of the ongoing, massive overhaul of the bridge.

NYC has also completed a bike/ped path on the Manhattan Bridge, which has lacked foot and bike access since the 1950's. Exercising extreme myopia, the city is using the lane as a construction staging area and has no plans to permit walkers and cyclists to use it for nearly a decade. For many, the route would be a more convenient commute than the Brooklyn Bridge, which now frequently clogs with tourists and commuters to lower Manhattan. So far, the city cycling community seems not to have noticed the issue.