COURIER LIFE, S 20 EPTEMBER 17-23, 2021
The Brooklyn Bridge bike lane opened on Sept. 14. Photo by Kevin Duggan
ROLL ON!
Offi cials cut ribbon on new
Brooklyn Bridge bike lane
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
The long-awaited Brooklyn Bridge
bike lane opened Tuesday, Sept. 14,
providing a protected and permanent
two-way path for cyclists on the iconic
span, according to the city’s chief
streets planner.
“Anybody who has ever questioned
the role of cycling in this city, is it a
big deal, is it just a pandemic thing,”
said Department of Transportation
Commissioner Hank Gutman, “the answer
is pretty clear today: cycling is a
big deal, it is here, and today one lane
of the Brooklyn Bridge is being dedicated
to cycling forever.”
The DOT, local politicians, and bike
advocates cut the ribbon on the new
path which replaced the innermost
car lane on the Manhattan-bound side
of the bridge.
The change will allow cyclists to
cross the connector without having
to fend for space on the wooden boardwalk
above, which is already crowded
again with out-of-towners, noted one
elected offi cial.
“I can confi rm there are tourists back
in New York City now because riding
over the Brooklyn Bridge on the boardwalk
is as perilous as it ever was today,”
said Councilmember Steve Levin, who
represents areas on the Brooklyn side
of the bridge. “Yelling out, ‘bike lane,
bike lane, bike lane,’ every 10 seconds is
not something I’m gonna miss.”
DOT workers started installing the
barriers and fencing for the bike lane
in June, and set up “No Bike” signs on
the walkway Monday, which is now pedestrian
only.
One advocacy leader said it was
refreshing to celebrate new bike infrastructure
amid a rash of deadly
crashes in the city, most recently when
a driver killed a 3-month-old baby and
critically injured her mother in Brooklyn
over the weekend.
“Instead of going to vigil after vigil,
this is where we need to be, groundbreaking
after groundbreaking,” said
Transportation Alternatives executive
director Danny Harris.
The new bike lane’s offi cial opening
was fi rst broken Monday by Brooklyn
Paper’s sister publication amNewYork
Metro, and Gutman said in a draft release
obtained by the paper that DOT
will set its sights on the Queensboro
Bridge next.
“Bridges for the People is a step
in the right direction towards a safer
and more sustainable transportation
future that puts people fi rst – and we
look forward to implementing similar
changes to the Queensboro Bridge this
year,” Gutman said.
The plans were previously fi rst reported
on by Brooklyn Paper in June
2020, months before DOT handed a
release to the New York Times ahead
of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s offi cial announcement
during his State of the
City speech in January.
Hizzoner was initially slated to
show up at Tuesday’s presser but
didn’t come.
The project was the fi rst reconfi guration
of the bridge since trolley tracks
were permanently removed in 1950, according
to DOT.
Cyclists hailed the new protected
lanes, but some criticized it as being
way too narrow — at only 8 feet wide.
DOT offi cials told locals at a Brooklyn
community board meeting earlier this
year that it is the best they could get
done before de Blasio leaves offi ce at
the end of the year.
Some pedal pushers tried out the
new bike lane early before its offi cial
opening last week, but the city quickly
closed off the entrances again until
Tuesday’s opening.