Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Bicycling

DOT Plans Nine Miles of Bike Lanes For LIC, Sunnyside, With More to Come

New bike lanes would be installed next spring along the routes marked with green dotted lines, and could be added along the routes marked in blue in subsequent years. Click for a larger image.

Bike lane mileage in Long Island City and Sunnyside, Queens, is set to double next year, under a preliminary plan from the Department of Transportation, with significant expansions to follow in subsequent years. The nine miles of new routes -- along 11th Street, Skillman Avenue, 47th Avenue and 39th Street -- were selected in a community planning process convened earlier this year by Community Board 2 and City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer.

Queens' disjointed street grid poses a particular challenge for cyclists. With relatively few streets that provide a through route from neighborhood to neighborhood, cyclists often find themselves on the same handful of wide, busy streets with the most dangerous automobile traffic. In this plan, DOT is making room for cyclists on those in-demand routes. "These are major routes," said CB 2 member Emilia Crotty. "They cut all the way through the neighborhood." 11th, for example, feeds into the Pulaski Bridge. Additionally, new bike lanes will extend down into Hunters Point on the smaller streets of 2nd Street, and 50th and 51st Avenues.

The very busiest path, however, will remain free of bike infrastructure. DOT deemed Queens Boulevard to have traffic volumes too high to allow a bike lane, according to the Queens Chronicle, despite community interest in putting a lane there.

The Department of Transportation is still developing the designs for the new bike lanes, which could be painted lanes, sharrows, or even -- in the case of the 39th Street bridge over the Sunnyside rail yards -- placed on the sidewalk. "I know that members of the community will push for the most robust designs possible," said Crotty.

The design options will be constrained by DOT's commitment to avoid eliminating on-street parking with these bike lane projects. These will not be protected bike routes.

DOT is currently collecting additional traffic data in the neighborhood and should have a proposal before the community board by the fall. If approved, the bike lanes would be built next spring.

At that point, DOT would move right into another round of bike lane construction in the neighborhood, tentatively scheduled for the following year. DOT and local residents have already identified a number of feasible routes, which community members have ranked at public workshops. In all, the goal is to develop a four-year plan for bike lane expansion in the district, according to the Chronicle.

By an overwhelming margin, said Crotty, the top choice for a bike lane is Greenpoint Avenue, where two cyclists have been killed in traffic crashes since April. She noted that it might be impossible to design a bike lane on the Queens segment of Greenpoint Avenue, however, before the city decides how to improve conditions for cycling on the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge. DOT had proposed adding buffered bike lanes to the bridge, but the agency shelved that plan and started over after encountering opposition from area businesses that run trucks over it.

DOT also plans to add new bike racks to the neighborhood, particularly around Queensboro Plaza.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

GOP Governor Hopeful Mike Lawler Dishes Culture War Dreck In Anti-Transit Tantrum

The Republican congressman journeyed to Albany to spew the same empty rage that transit opponents have trotted out for years.

January 14, 2025

Gov. Hochul Eyes Parking Ban at Elementary Schools; Advocates Say It’s ‘Not Enough’

It's a start, but why not bring the safety benefits to the whole city?

January 14, 2025

Masters of Deflection: Congestion Pricing Foes Stoke Fear of Subway Crime

Opponents of congestion pricing are trying to claim the tolling scheme unfairly forces New Yorkers onto a dangerous subway system, but it's more complicated.

January 14, 2025

Tuesday’s Headlines: Lest We Forget Edition

Ninth Street should be safer, say Brooklyn residents as they mourned one of their own last week. Plus other news.

January 14, 2025

IT’S WORKING: Initial Data Show Congestion Pricing Has Stemmed The Tide of Years of Increasing Traffic

Travel times are down an average of 34 percent across the eight bridges and tunnels into the Central Business District, which saw a 7.5-percent drop in overall traffic, according to MTA figures.

January 14, 2025
See all posts