Eyes on the Street: Another Review of the Review Avenue Bike Lane

Is it really bliss?

One year ago, Streetsblog said the bike lanes in Blissville, in the southwesternmost corner of Queens, earned our “chef’s kiss,” but now we’re not so sure.

A decade-long fight for street safety landed Blissville a couple of new bike lanes on local streets, including Review and Starr avenues. The improvements to the cycling infrastructure mean cyclists are taking the route more often.

Riders will take Review Avenue even if it’s out of their way, so that they can avoid Greenpoint Avenue, which “is still a tough corridor for bikes,” according to Tom Mituzas, a life-long resident and the secretary of the Blissville Civic Association.

The small neighborhood now serves as a corridor for cyclists to get between the Kosciuszko Bridge bike lane and Long Island City and between Sunnyside and Greenpoint. But there are still sections of the greenway that cyclists and residents are still waiting for.

The Department of Transportation has yet to install the bike lane on Borden Avenue, which Mituzas said he’s “longing” for.

Join Streetsblog on a tour of the existing lanes, which are often ignored by drivers, local businesses and the NYPD.

Eyes on the street

The DOT’s proposal for the Blissville Greenway.

The bike lane starts at the Kosciuszko Bridge with a cozy ride down the east side of Laurel Hill Boulevard in a protected lane. All the vehicles parked on the street were situated in their designated parking lane, and only a couple of cars had sneaked over the line into the crosshatched “buffer zone,” designed to provide space between the bike lane and the parking spots.

Once cyclists arrive at the intersection with 56th Road, they have to switch from the lane on the east side to one on the west side. The west side of the street’s bike lane was finally installed in late-2025, but the only option for getting there is a pedestrian crossing, where the DOT has, at least, installed a bike crosswalk next to the one for pedestrians.

Continuing down Laurel Hill Boulevard, now on the west side of the street, most of the cars are parked straddling the parking lane and the cross hatched “buffer zone.” For cyclists, this means they are now in a “door zone,” and can easily be hit by drivers and passengers exiting their cars.

A car on Review Avenue straddles the buffer zone, leaving half of the space designated for parking empty and the car right next to the bike lane. Photo: Emily Smith

Right at the spot where Laurel Hill Boulevard turns into Review Avenue, two Jersey barriers were installed. But, once cyclists make it onto Review Avenue, they’re again subject to a “door zone,” with cars parked straddling the buffer zone and the parking lane, all the way down the avenue to the intersection with Greenpoint Avenue.

This isn’t always the case, however, according to Mituzas, who said he walks along the lane regularly.

Cars parked in the “buffer zone” on Review Avenue. Photo: Emily Smith

Some cars are even parked in one of the few “No Standing” zones on the street — which are completely crosshatched, and should give cyclists a wide breadth between them and the road, albeit without any physical boundary.

The only place along the half-mile stretch where this was the case was across the street from Lenoble Lumber, which filed a lawsuit against the DOT in 2024 to block the plan. The “No Standing” zone stretched completely across the business’s front side, and only had two vehicles parked in the “No Standing” zone the first time Streetsblog rode by and none the second time. The “No Standing” zone came at the request of Lenoble, according to Mituzas, so that the company would have room to back its trucks into the garage.

The “No Parking” zone across the street from Lenoble Lumber, empty of any illegally parked vehicles. Photo: Emily Smith

Another business, J&S Supply, had its own trucks parked in the “No Standing” zone across the street from the insulation and roofing company. An employee for the company said that, when the bike lane was installed and the parking on the east side of the street was removed, company workers began parking company trucks there.

“We just don’t have no option. We get tickets sometimes,” he said. He added that the cars who park in the “No Standing,” sometimes get towed — three or four in the past three weeks.

The car identified by a J&S Supply employee as belonging to the company parked in a “No Standing” zone across the street from the business. Photo: Emily Smith

Beyond Review

Once cyclists make it to the intersection of Greenpoint Avenue, they have to cross a wide, six-way intersection, where it’s difficult to even see where Review Avenue continues — and whether or not there’s a bike lane on the other side. The DOT installed a couple small curb extensions — one lined by delineator posts and the other painted — and a new crosswalk, but the paint is fading on all three of the new measures.

There is a bike lane that continues on Review Avenue, after crossing the intersection, but it’s unprotected and only north-bound. A driver of a forklift even drove through the bike lane in order to unload an illegal 53-foot truck parked on the opposite side of the street.

A forklift driver uses the bike lane to maneuver around cars, in order to unload an illegal, 53-foot truck. Photo: Emily Smith

The bike lane continues on Starr Avenue, which cyclists can get to using a brief stretch of Borden Avenue — which still lacks a bike lane. Starr Avenue got a painted bike lane between Borden Avenue and Van Dam Street, and Streetsblog spotted three NYPD vehicles parked in the lane directly in front of the Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

A NYPD van parked in the bike lane on Starr Avenue, directly in front of the Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Photo: Emily Smith

Nearby, on Van Dam Street, between Starr and Greenpoint avenues, there is a painted bike lane with a short stretch of the lane “protected” by two parking spots. They were empty when Streetsblog visited the scene, leaving bikers totally unprotected for the whole stretch, despite DOT claims of installing a “protected lane.”

The stretch of Van Dam Street between Starr and Greenpoint avenues is mostly unprotected. Photo: Emily Smith

How did we get here?

The Review Avenue bike lane, along with the other lanes on Starr Avenue and Van Dam Street, were the result of years of action from local residents and officials that started in 2017.

Two cyclists were killed by drivers on Borden Avenue in 2019. Robert Spencer, 53, and Mario Valenzuela, 14, were both killed on Borden Avenue, on a section that have not yet had bike lanes implemented. DOT said that they plan to install this section of the bike lane later this year.

What’s next?

DOT presented a plan to Queens Community Board 2, detailing the scheme for installing a bike lane on Borden Avenue, which was originally targeted for installation in 2025. It hasn’t been started yet, but DOT plans to install a two-way, Jersey-barrier-protected lane on the avenue, from Center Street to Review Avenue, and then an only-east bound protected bike lane on the short stretch of Borden Avenue between Review Avenue and Starr Avenue.

“Borden Avenue is wide enough to incorporate safer streets for everybody,” said Mituzas, who added that he would also like to see the DOT install safer sidewalks along Borden Avenue.

Mituzas also has hopes for a future plan to address Greenpoint Avenue. He said that the avenue, “especially the corridor between the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge and Borden Avenue, is still a mess.” Only a small section of this avenue, between Starr and Review Avenues is included in existing future plans for improving the greenway. The DOT said that it was exploring adding bike lanes on other roadways in the area.

Mituza’s trees are coming in nicely, too, he said. He’s happy that the bike lane not only protects cyclists, but the neighborhood’s trees too.