Bike Boulevard gets moving in Sunnyside

Construction will begin on the 39th Avenue Bike Boulevard in Sunnyside this month, the Department of Transportation announced this week. Map via the DOT

By Jacob Kaye

The gears are moving on the city’s first ever Bike Boulevard coming to Sunnyside this fall, the city’s Department of Transportation announced this week.

Construction of the Bike Boulevard along 39th Avenue from Barnett to Woodside Avenues will begin this month, according to the DOT. The changes include the installation of a protected bike lane, pedestrian ramps and directional signs for cars.

Perhaps poorly named, the Bike Boulevard design is centered around a series of traffic calming measures and aims to make the throughway safer for drivers and pedestrians, as well as for those pedaling by on two wheels.

“It’s all about the traffic calming here, which does make it safer to bike but also makes it safer to walk and drive as well,” Craig Baerwald, a city planner with the DOT, told Queens Community Board 2 in June.

Construction is expected to be completed later in the fall, according to the DOT.

“We are excited to begin work on 39th Avenue in keeping Mayor de Blasio's commitment to bring a Bike Boulevard to every borough this year as part of the continued expansion of the New York City bike network,” a DOT spokesperson told the Eagle. “We will start work this month on the project, which also includes safety measures to protect pedestrians and give them more dedicated space.”

The neighborhood’s reception of the Bike Boulevard – Sunnyside’s will be the first in the city – has been mixed.

While many residents spoke out in favor of the changes during CB 2’s June meeting on 39th Avenue, several spoke out vehemently against it. The board ultimately voted in approval of the plan.

Those opposed said it would ruin the historic nature of Sunnyside Gardens, invite chaos and take away parking.

Lisa Deller, the chair of the community board, said that while she expects the change will be good for those who commute by bike, she hopes attention is also paid to pedestrians and drivers.

“I'm skeptical that it's going to equally serve everybody in the community,” Deller said. “It's a good environmental effort and it will help people who bike enormously, to connect the bike route to Jackson Heights and is something folks have been advocating for for a long time. But hopefully it will accommodate pedestrians in the area and not generate more traffic and we won't lose parking spaces, as the DOT promised.”

“It's a project for the future,” Deller added. “Hopefully, whatever kinks that we may experience will be resolved.”

The street, which currently has four lanes dedicated to cars – two traveling in either direction – will be reduced to a one lane, one-way block.

The stretch of 39th Avenue from 49th to 50th Street would head one-way east and cars would be forced to turn south at 50th Street. From 51st to 50th Streets, cars would head west and turn north at 50th toward Barnett Avenue.

Parking will still be available on both sides of the street.

The DOT plans to install one Bike Boulevard in each of the five boroughs. Each will be selected from the group of existing Open Streets, which began during the pandemic.