Mystery solved: The new gates at the Queens foot of the Kosciuszko Bridge bike and pedestrian path don't fully close, meaning that they can't be deployed to close the roadway for non-motorists as some cyclists had feared.
After a Friend of Streetsblog tweeted about the new gates, we sent our best oldest reporter to the Maspeth-Sunnyside area to check it out. He filed this report dispelling cyclists' concerns — and confirming what New York State DOT had told Streetsblog's Dave Colon earlier in the week.
It's an exciting video that all K-Bridge fans should watch (one factual note that's not in the video: pedestrians do not have to zig-zag to get off the bridge. They get their own unobstructed path):