"Solid ice."
"Outrageous."
"Not fair."
These are some of the comments bike riders posted on Tuesday night and earlier today about conditions on the Queensboro Bridge bike lane more than two days after a fairly insignificant snowfall ended on Sunday night.
Photographic evidence suggests that the Department of Transportation did not fully clear the way for riders — many of whom are delivery workers — on the second-busiest East River bridge (and the only one to link Queens directly to Manhattan Island).
This photo was from Tuesday at around 5 p.m., according to a post on r/NYCbike:
Conditions were no better an hour or so later, according to this poster:
And by Wednesday morning, another commenter reported that the bridge was still icy, though a bit better. One cynic also pointed out, "On Monday afternoon, all the roadways were totally clear, and the bike lanes were icy. But what do I know?"
We reached out to DOT for an explanation, and the agency said it had treated the pathway on Tuesday night, but it iced over again. The agency cleared the pathway again on Wednesday and sent over photos of the completed work. Here's one of them:
Meanwhile, forecasters predict a much bigger storm this weekend.
Until then, it's worth noting that Mayor Mamdani has repeatedly said he wants New York streets to be "the envy of the world." But when it comes to the ability to bike in winter, he has a lot of work to do to achieve the world's true envy: Oulu, Finland:
