BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Cycling over the Brooklyn
Bridge almost doubled since
the city installed a new dedicated
bike lane on the span’s
roadway, according to new
data provided by the Department
of Transportation.
During the new lane’s fi rst
full month of operation in October,
the DOT counted 4,206
average daily bike crossings
over the iconic span, an 88%
increase from the 2,239 average
daily trips in October 2020.
“We have reclaimed space
from cars to make cycling over
the Brooklyn Bridge safer and
easier, while making the pedestrian
experience better
than ever – and it has been a
great success,” said DOT Commissioner
Hank Gutman in a
statement. “I couldn’t be more
thrilled to see people fl ock to
this critical connection in our
bike lane network.”
The city opened the new
two-way protected bike lane
on the Brooklyn Bridge roadway
on Sept. 14, taking the
innermost car lane on the
Manhattan-bound side while
making the formerly-shared
wooden walkway above pedestrian
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Bike counts already went
up by more than half during
the fi rst couple of weeks, with
a 56% increase in ridership
over September of last year, at
3,635 average daily crossings
in 2021 versus 2,336 in 2020,
according to DOT.
The new lane reversed a
years-long trend of declining
bike ridership on the Brooklyn
Bridge, which saw decreases
in both months in 2020 compared
to 2019, despite a bike
boom across the city during
the fi rst year of the COVID-19
pandemic.
Bike ridership on the
Brooklyn Bridge declined by
30% between 2015-2020, while
all four DOT-managed East
River bridges were up 21%
during that time, according
to this year’s Cycling in the
City report. However, during
the last two months, the other
three East River bridges saw
ridership declining again after
an all-time high in 2020.
The nearby Manhattan
Bridge, which serves a similar
route from Downtown Brooklyn
to Lower Manhattan, was
down 11% in daily average
ridership in October and 5%
lower in September.
But there was still a net
gain of cyclists traveling on
the Brooklyn and Manhattan
bridges with 963 combined
more daily riders on both connectors
in September and 1,218
more in October.
The decrease of bike traffi
c on the Manhattan Bridge is
The Brooklyn Bridge bike lane opened on Sept. 14. Photo by Kevin Duggan
also in line with a larger slowdown
of the 2020 bike boom,
which has also led to fewer
crossings on the Williamsburg
and the Ed Koch-Queensboro
bridges.
On the Williamsburg
Bridge, daily bike traffi c was
down 13% in September and
16% in October compared to
last year, and two-wheeled traffi
c on the Ed Koch-Queensboro
Bridge was down 11% both
months, according to DOT.
The Queensboro is slated
to get an upgrade of its own to
separate the currently shared
bike and pedestrian lane on
the north outer lane by banning
car traffi c from the south
outer lane and turning it into
a walkway, according to plans
fi rst announced by Mayor Bill
de Blasio in his January State
of the City address.
DOT recently revealed that
this revamp will have to wait
until late next year for the
city to wrap up repairs of the
bridge’s upper deck, because
the agency is worried about
creating more congestion if it
takes away a lane from vehicles
during construction.
WAY TO GO!
Cycling on Brooklyn Bridge almost doubled
after new bike lane opened, DOT says
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