The pedestrian/bike pathway on the Queensboro Bridge, pictured, will be closed intermittently on Thursday and Friday. (Photo by Michael Dorgan, Queens Post)
April 6, 2022 By Czarinna Andres
The DOT announced today that it will be closing the pedestrian/bike pathway on the Queensboro Bridge intermittently on Thursday and Friday.
The announcement has irked the two council members who represent the districts served by the bridge—Julie Won of western Queens and Julie Menin of Manhattan—particularly given the short notice.
The DOT said that it will be closing the pedestrian/bike pathway intermittently for 15-minute intervals on April 7th and 8th between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. The closures are required so contractors can safely lift steel as part of the overhaul of the bridge.
The agency is in the process of replacing the bridge’s upper deck in order to extend its life by up to 75 years. The work, which began in February, is expected to take until December 2023 to complete.
The construction work means that the city’s plan to convert a car lane into a pedestrian pathway on the bridge will be delayed until at least 2024.
The DOT had pledged to convert a car lane on the southern outer roadway to a pedestrian pathway by 2022—in order to free up space on the northern outer roadway of the bridge which is currently shared by pedestrians and cyclists.
“Closing off the bridge to everyone who is not in a car for any period of time is completely unacceptable and is the inevitable result of delaying the pedestrianization of the South Outer Roadway for an extra two years,” Won said. “If the possibility of further closures exists, DOT must open the south outer roadway now to ensure free and unobstructed passage for pedestrians and people on bikes at all times.”
The two council members said the closures of the pedestrian/bike pathway are not acceptable, noting that the car-bearing south outer roadway will be unaffected by these intermittent closures.
Work on the #QueenboroBridge will require FULL intermittent 15-minute closures of the #BikeNYC & pedestrian path on 4/7 & 4/8, 10AM-3PM. Flaggers will be present. Work is weather dependent. pic.twitter.com/JsUxmKlARJ
— NYC DOT (@NYC_DOT) April 6, 2022
Both Won and Menin were upset when the DOT made its announcement in February that the pedestrian/bike pathway would be delayed two years.
They urged the DOT at the time to find ways to expedite the construction work in order to make way for a separate pedestrian lane and dedicated bike path much soon. They said the bridge is an important artery in the city’s bike infrastructure.
The pair penned a letter to DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez on Feb. 3 outlining how the repairs would prolong the treacherous situation on the northern outer roadway where pedestrians and cyclists share the narrow strip along the bridge.
DOT Commissioner Rodriguez has yet to respond, they said.
The narrow pathway on the northern outer roadway is currently shared by bicyclists and pedestrians. The pathway will be closed intermittently on Thursday and Friday (Photo: Queens Post)
Featured Events
17 Comments
Julie Won has not responded to my queries or calls: Flood her email and demand representation District26@council.nyc.gov , Info@juliewon.com. We are her constituents too!!!
Is anything being done about the lawlessness of a great number of cyclists in the City? The sense of empowerment cyclists exude has increased exponentially with the addition of formalized bike lanes. Few obey Stop Signs or Red Lights. Sidewalks appear to be part of the bike lane routes and the direction of traffic flow does not appear to apply to this group. Why is this so?
Bike Boulevard (39th Ave.) has put a dagger through the heart of a quiet residential neighborhood. Plastic barricades obstruct crosswalks, impact Sanitation pickup and create congestion where there was none before.
Can this topic be brought up at the next Community Board Meeting? Along with statistical support on effectiveness?
Thank You.
Tax Payer, Home Owner and Life Long Resident of Queens
Leave her alone for a couple of weeks.
I agree she should have ran next term but what’s done is done.
Nice try, Paul. But if you actually lived in the neighborhood you would see what a wonderful virtually traffic-free oasis 39th avenue has become. The transformation has even transcended people’s vitriol over bikes because of how effectively it has transformed the avenue into a family friendly neighborhood street. The acclaim is almost universal outside of a handful of cranks and hate trolls, of which I am sure you do not want to associate yourself with as you pretend to be a local homeowner. Please go back to bother people in your own local neighborhood.
It is my neighborhood and has been for 60 + years, NO NAME! Shouldn’t cyclists obey traffic signals and direction? Should sidewalks be off limits? I think so; this so called project had very little thought applied to it
Sunnyside post wont post some of my comments
Won supports dangerous bike lanes. Her lanes should be open to extreme risk takers who think (?) it’s OK for bridge to rust away. Doesn’t make any sense! Why did you vote for this news maker?
Ask what have you done for the community? Why, I got the city to keep the bike lines open during construction.
This shouldn’t be an issue. Most bridge residents DRIVE while most bikers are just biking through from other neighborhoods. LOL
They have to work on your precious, coveted bike lanes that you refuse to use anyway!!!
Cry me a river!
Perhaps their time might be better spent dealing with the disaster of the 39th Ave Bike Boulevard which has made a quiet section noisy, congested, confusing, smelly (truly – how long does the stench from the green paint last???), dangerous to all, etc. rather than complain about some brief and temporary closures to get needed work done?
When does it end!?
The self-importance of cyclists is hysterical! Honestly, you can’t wait 15 minutes for this old, old bridge to be repaired? You want to ride under a load of steel lifted on a crane? No one, not you, not anyone, is promised a smooth, safe, unobstructed, trip through this world. Curb you egos! Julie, your backers own too much of you and it shows.
Crazy! Cyclists are exempt from all taxes, otherwise they’d be entitled to use the roadways.
Oh please, 15-minute closures in the middle of the day is not such a big deal. The bridge needs repairs and it’s a safety issue to suspend the bike traffic for a few minutes.
Ridiculous. Stop being such a baby. They have to get the work done.
“Dot announced it will be closing the pedestrian/ bike
pathway” dont they mean pedestrian/ bike/ moped/ motor cycle pathway. I was walking the bridge the other day and counted 7 mopeds and there was a group of three motor bikes that came through. The motorized bikes are get more and more aggressive. I wish the police would control this. If someone hits me with their illegal moped I’m suing the city. The city knows it’s an issue and they ignore it.
Cyclists, pedestrians, motorists…we all can’t stand mopeds ?
Would Julie Won prefer they keep the lanes open during these short periods when they lift the steel and risk dropping a few tons of it it on someone and killing them?
Seriously, what is this woman thinking? Seems like a very prudent and reasonable measure by the DOT.