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

Here’s the DOT Plan to Make the Bronx Side of the Madison Ave Bridge Less Terrifying

The project would add safer pedestrian crossings and a short stretch of bike lanes protected by flexible posts at the foot of the Madison Avenue Bridge in the Bronx. Image: DOT

A stretch of 138th Street linking the Bronx to Manhattan is in line for walking and biking improvements from DOT. The project would add bike lanes and safer pedestrian crossings to the blocks between the Madison Avenue Bridge and Third Avenue [PDF].

Currently 138th Street has painted bike lanes east of Third Avenue, but the segment approaching the bridge is a free-for-all of excess asphalt, with dangerous crossings and no bike lanes.

"If you’re coming down Grand Concourse and you’re going to turn onto 138th Street, nothing is identified there," said Transportation Alternatives Bronx committee co-chair Kevin Daloia. "There’s no identifiable crosswalks, no identifiable bike paths. It’s a very busy area. The intersections there are very wide.”

DOT has sketched out 40 potential projects to improve the often scary walking and biking connections to the 16 bridges connecting Manhattan and the Bronx, and this is one of them.

At the foot of the Madison Avenue Bridge, where traffic is most intense, the project calls for a short stretch of bike lanes protected by flexible posts, as well as more direct marked crosswalks leading to the bridge and painted expansions of sidewalks and pedestrian medians.

Between Walton Avenue and Third Avenue, the bike lanes would be unprotected, and pedestrian crossings would be improved with painted markings and three concrete islands. At the southern end of the Grand Concourse, DOT also proposed pedestrianizing a semi-circular driveway outside the Fince del Sur Farm.

The proposal would pedestrianize this semi-circular roadway outside the Fince del Sur urban farm. Image: DOT
This semi-circular driveway outside the Fince del Sur urban farm would be converted to pedestrian space. Image: DOT
The proposal would pedestrianize this semi-circular roadway outside the Fince del Sur urban farm. Image: DOT

A related improvement considered at DOT's Harlem River access workshops last year would add protected bike lanes to the Madison Avenue Bridge roadway. That would be a more resource-intensive capital project going through DOT's bridges division.

DOT said last spring that it would release the final Harlem River Bridge Access Plan in the fall, but the document has yet to materialize.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Wednesday’s Headlines: Another Highway Boondoggle Erased Edition

Maybe the worm has turned on these awful boondoggles? Plus other news.

October 15, 2025

Book Excerpt Special: ‘War on Cars’ Hosts Explore Life After the Automobile

...and why it's so urgent that we work for a better future.

October 15, 2025

State Pauses Billion-Dollar Route 17 Expansion in Hudson Valley

One of the biggest highway boondoggles in the state may finally die a merciful death, thanks to Gov. Hochul.

October 14, 2025

Delivery Workers Continue Push For Deactivation Protections

Delivery workers put pressure on the City Council to pass a bill that would give them "just cause" protections.

October 14, 2025

Parking? Lots! But Manhattanites Want to Unlock Space by Queensboro Bridge

It used to be open in the distant past, and can be once again. But DOT says it needs it for "storage."

October 14, 2025

Opinion: Daylighting Corners Would Add Safety While Tackling New York’s Placard Elite

If he's elected, Democratic Socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani must confront this city's current socialist aberration: Free parking.

October 14, 2025
See all posts