NYC will add bike lanes on Queensboro Bridge

The Queensboro Bridge is getting bike lanes, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday. Photo by simsala111.jpg via Wikimedia Commons

By David Brand

New York City will replace a car lane on the Queensboro Bridge with bike lanes to ease the crossing for cyclists and pedestrians, according to a proposal released by Mayor de Blasio Thursday.

Under the plan, included in de Blasio’s annual “State of the City” address, the city will convert the northside outer roadway into a two-way bike-only lane. The southside outer roadway will become a two-way pedestrian-only lane.

Pedestrians and cyclists currently share a path along the northern side of the span.

“It’s time to bring [the bridge] into the 21st century and embrace the future with a radical new plan,” de Blasio said in his speech.

He also said the city would convert a car lane on the Brooklyn Bridge into a two-way bike lane. Cyclists and pedestrians share a narrow passage above the roadways on the iconic, and heavily traveled Brooklyn crossing.

The bike lane plan received immediate praise from local lawmakers and transit advocates.

“Converting car lanes into bike lanes on two of our most important bridges is a giant leap forward for New York City,” said Transportation Alternatives Executive Director Danny Harris. “We look forward to working with the de Blasio administration on this vital new project and other efforts to improve infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians on bridges and streets across the five boroughs.”

The bikes lanes will become just the latest transit adaptation along a 112-year-old bridge that once featured a stop light and an elevator that took cars down to Roosevelt Island below. (For more on that, check out the Jan. 14 episode of the Bowery Boys history podcast).