It’s an open and shut case.
Activists took back a lane of the Queensboro Bridge to pedestrians on Saturday, accusing Mayor Adams of ignoring an ongoing safety crisis on the span, where car drivers get nine lanes and pedestrians and cyclists in both directions must share a single lane.
That condition was supposed to be slightly rectified with the Department of Transportation's restoration of the bridge's southernmost lane to a pedestrian pathway — but Adams delayed and possibly canceled the project even though it was so ready to go that DOT had scheduled a ribbon-cutting a month ago.
"This pathway is ready and every day that it is not open, Mayor Adams is choosing to have more near-misses, more crashes and more injuries on the north roadway," said David Morant of Transportation Alternatives. "We're fighting for a space that is clearly too small for cyclists and pedestrians."
Crashes between bicyclists and pedestrians are common on the bridge, thanks to the high numbers of both vulnerable road users — and the narrow, 10-foot path that people on foot and people on bike in both directions share.
After roughly 200 people crossed the bridge on foot — with assistance from the NYPD — the lane reverted back to use exclusively by car drivers, which it has been since 2000 when the Giuliani administration took it from walkers and gave it to drivers.
On hand were advocates for safe streets, plus Council Member Julie Won (D-Queens) and state Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Queens), who have consistently supported the space reconfiguration on behalf of pedestrians, and now used dire language to express their dismay.
“I am breaking up with Mayor Adams,” Won said. “This is a dysfunctional relationship.”
Others pointed out that then-Mayor Bill de Blasio promised more space for pedestrians on the Queensboro Bridge at the same time as he promised to create a dedicated bike lane on the Brooklyn bridge to alleviate pedestrian/cyclist conflicts on that span.
Brooklyn got its bike lane — without the traffic “nightmare” predicted by foes — yet Queens is still waiting for its dedicated walkway to Manhattan. And needs it even more, given the rising number of cyclists crossing between the World's Borough and the Capital of the World.
"The city has built protected bike lanes connecting to this bridge, and you end up on a narrow, one-car-lane-width lane that is so narrow that the bicycle lane symbols are literally crashing into each other," said Corey Hannigan of Tri-State Transportation Campaign. "But the mayor stepped in and said, 'Oh, I have to look at the traffic impact.' That's not good governance. Traffic volumes are dropping thanks to congestion pricing and they're still worried about car volumes."
It is unclear what is going to happen now. Won said she has received no new information since Mayor Adams canceled the March 16 ribbon-cutting. Since then, City Hall has said that the mayor and Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro needed to be briefed about the six-year-old project that was completed during the mayor's term. (On Saturday, City Hall did not initially respond to a request for comment, but after initial publication, issued a statement that added nothing new: “As Mayor Adams has said, this is a major project that will impact several communities and two boroughs [sic] worth of traffic, which is why we must ensure New Yorkers can continue to get to where they need to go efficiently. We will share more at the appropriate time.”)
Streetsblog walked the path and found the views breathtaking:
After the 30-minute walk over the East River, the roadway again became a lane for car drivers, as it will remain until the mayor decides otherwise.
