BY KEVIN DUGGAN
The overhaul of the Ed
Koch-Queensboro Bridge’s
tight pedestrian and bike
lanes is being held up because
city transportation
officials are worried about
causing congestion amid an
ongoing rehabilitation of the
span’s upper-level roadway.
The Department of Transportation
will start work
by year-end to redesign the
shared path on the bridge’s
outer roadways, but the
agency won’t complete the
project until they finish replacing
the upper deck of
the 119-year-old span in late
2022.
DOT Commissioner Hank
Gutman told reporters during
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s
recent press briefing that
the new lanes would open as
soon as early 2022.
“We’re committed to getting
Queensboro Bridge
done,” Gutman said. “The
construction is proceeding
and we will get as far as the
weather permits us this year
before winter weather slows
us down, but we’re looking to
have it done early next year.”
DOT’s press office later
followed up to say their boss
“misspoke” and that, while
the agency will begin work
this year and provide an updated
schedule in the spring,
officials want to wrap up the
roadwork above first.
“Work will start this year,
but the commissioner misspoke
— it will not be complete
in early 2022, due to the
work that must be completed
on the road decks. We will
provide an updated completion
date once work recommences
in the spring,” said
spokesman Scott Gastel in
an email.
Gastel did not detail what
kind of work will start in the
coming weeks or when exactly
it would begin.
Mayor Bill de Blasio first
announced his plans to give
more space to cyclists and pedestrians
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.4 COM | NOV. 12 - NOV. 18, 2021
on the Queensboro
and Brooklyn bridges in his
State of the City address in
January.
While the Brooklyn
Bridge’s new bike lane
opened in September to much
fanfare from the city and
praise from bike advocates,
the Queens project has been
slower to get going.
The existing lane is a notorious
squeeze for both pedal
pushers and pedestrians
who have to fend for space.
The city’s plan would
make the northern outer
roadway bike-only and ban
cars from the southern outer
roadway to turn it into a
walkway, mimicking the setup
on the Manhattan Bridge.
But DOT wants to keep
the southern lane open for
vehicles for as long as it
works to renovate the upper
roadway, in order to keep car
traffic moving.
“South outer roadway
must be available for traffic
at key times during upper
Cyclists and pedestrians on the Queensboro Bridge shared path.
deck construction to reduce
local traffic issues, based on
findings from traffic study
and analysis,” according to a
DOT presentation from May.
The agency targeted late
2022 for the walkway’s implementation,
the slides read,
coinciding with the above
roadway’s fix.
One car lane is closed at
all times for the work, but
sometimes the city takes
two out of service. That still
leaves six or seven lanes
open for vehicles.
“There is a massive rehabilitation
going on on the
Queensboro Bridge, but that
File photo
the administration, obviously
we want to make it safe
for both pedestrians and cyclists,”
Nicole Garcia told
Community Board 2’s Transportation
Committee on Nov.
1. “Before we conceived of
this bike-ped separate paths,
that contract is well out the
door. It’s very important.”
“The Queensboro Bridge
is the workhorse of all of
the East River bridges, so it
carries more cars than the
other ones — but that’s not to
say safety isn’t our priority
for bikes and peds,” the rep
added.
Read more on QNS.com.
Queensboro Bridge bike and
pedestrian lane project stalled
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