UPPER EAST SIDE, NY – A long-awaited plan to create separate bike and pedestrian lanes on the Queensboro Bridge could happen as soon as this summer, according to the city’s Department of Transportation.
In a recent presentation to Community Board 8’s Transportation Committee, the Department of Transportation said the southbound outer road will soon be closed to vehicular traffic, and will instead become a dedicated pedestrian walkway.
Currently, around 8,000 vehicles travel daily on the southbound carriageway on average compared to over 7,000 bicycles and almost 3,000 pedestrians currently on the northbound carriageway.
To walk across the bridge, the proposal calls for people to enter 59th Street East, right next to Honey Locust Park, where vehicles currently drive to navigate along the south exterior road.
The DOT plans to add a widened lane on the north side of East 59th Street between First and Second avenues, and a new half-block crosswalk to make access to the entrance easier.
According to DOT planner Karissa Lidstrand, the agency will have to wait for a capital project to do a new concrete road extension, and in the meantime they will mark the area with paint.
Bicycles will continue to use the north outer lane, but will no longer share the road with pedestrians. Lidstrand said signage will be added to prevent pedestrians from walking on the north exterior road.
But bikers will also find an upgrade on East 59th Street, where a new westbound lane will be installed. And the DOT will eliminate the left turn bay on First Avenue at East 59th Street, allowing it to expand both the existing bike lane and a truck loading zone on the avenue.
According to the DOT, the south outer road should be open to pedestrians in a few months, at the end of the summer, with all the work related to the project to be completed by the end of the year.
The plan was applauded at last week’s meeting, with many attendees thanking the DOT for finally following through on a plan previously announced under former Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Roosevelt Island resident and Community Board 8 member Paul Krikler said he rides his bike across the bridge several times a week.
“It’s terrible,” he said. “I’m very much in favor of it.”
“This is the part of the Upper East Side that I find the most hectic and heartbreaking both as a pedestrian and a cyclist,” said Dylan Geronimo Kennedy. “I really like the proposed changes. And I think they will help make the area a little less stressful.”
Hendy Schachter called the bridge “the least safe part of bicycling on the Upper East Side,” and implored the DOT not to hesitate on the fixes.
“Every day you delay is a day we could have a fatality,” he said. “This is one of those projects where speed is important.”
But even if the consensus on the project was a thumbs up, all the commentators recommend the DOT try to do more.
“Frankly, the space is not going to be enough,” Krikler said. “Even though we only have one side for bikes and pedestrians. It’s very, very crowded here.”
