Too Little, Too Late: City Paints New Lanes on Queensboro Bridge Bike Path After Tragedy
It took a year and the deaths of two cyclists for the city to update the pavement markings on the Queensboro Bridge bike lane to reflect the opening of a pedestrian-only path on the opposite side of the bridge.
The Department of Transportation updated the paint on the bike path in recent weeks after a cyclist and e-scooter rider died in a head-on collision there in May — more than a year after converting the path from a shared bike-pedestrian facility. Until last month, markings on the 11-foot-wide still indicated four narrow lanes for pedestrians and cyclists, even though people on foot have had their own path on the south side of the bridge since May 2025.
“These are long overdue updates,” said Mae Francke, the Queens organizer for Transportation Alternatives. “It’s terrible that tragedies need to happen for the city to really get to work and it’s not the way it should be happening.”
In addition to a new bold, yellow center-line down the middle of the path, DOT removed old pedestrian stencils that still were etched into the pavement in the east-bound lane— albeit without replacing them with cycling stencils. The agency updated both ends of the bridge with directional markings and added bollards at the Queens entrance.
The changes come only a little over a month after the tragic deaths of Dmytro Stechenko and Francis Delvalle, who collided in the lane.
“It’s terrible that tragedies need to happen for the city to really get to work and it’s not the way it should be happening,” said Mae Francke, the Queens organizer for Transportation Alternatives. “These are long overdue updates.”
Advocates have called for new markings since DOT converted the lane last year after an almost decade-long campaign to persuade city officials to pedestrianize the bridge’s south outer roadway, formerly used by car drivers and leave the north outer roadway for cyclists.
When Streetsblog did an “Eyes on the Bridge” at the span in October, the bike path still had pedestrian pavement stencils on the east-bound lane and unclear signage that continued to confuse cyclists and pedestrians alike.
“It’s very much a slap in the face for every single advocate who has been fighting for this bridge for such a long time,” she said.
The width of the bike lane prevented the city from removing the inaccurate markers, DOT told Streetsblog.
“The standard equipment for removing roadway markings doesn’t fit in these narrower areas, so the old markings are being cleared with specialized equipment as access allows,” said agency rep Mona Bruno. Cold weather also delayed installation, Bruno said.
An average of 4,800 cyclists ride the Queensboro Bridge everyday, according to city data. Two-wheelers who spoke to Streetsblog welcomed the overdue new paint.
“It’s much safer now,” said Sebastian Peralta, who takes the bike lane everyday to work. He said that the bike lane could use some ground lights.
Another cyclist pointed to improvements on the Queens-side entrance, where cyclists exiting the bridge and cyclists entering it — from two directions on the Queensboro Bridge Greenway — meet at a three-way intersection, that was once completely unmarked.
“That used to be a problem,” said the cyclist, who declined to share his name, adding that the new painted lines make navigating the intersection much easier.
Not every change implemented since May’s tragedy has improved safety, however.
On the Manhattan-side entrance to the bike path, DOT narrowed an opening between Jersey barriers and a large metal gate that cyclists use to get to and from Second Avenue via E. 61st Street. A line now forms every time the light at the intersection turns red — forcing cyclists to queue right at the bottom of the path’s high-speed downhill exit:
Cyclists can enter and exit the bridge at E. 61st Street from two directions — west on E 60th Street towards Second Avenu ethrough the small gap, or east towards First Avenue. Streetsblog observed almost 200 people take the former route through the gap over a period of 30 minutes on a sunny afternoon in June. Several nearly ran into each other.
“It’s already a weird intersection and it makes it even weirder,” said Robby Jones, a physician at Bellevue hospital who takes the bike lane to work everyday. “Even having an extra five feet would make a difference.” He added that it doesn’t appear that the gate provides any added safety.
DOT declined to comment on the status of this entrance, and whether the gate will be moved. The agency said that it plans to add additional bike symbols and markings along the bike lane in the future.
Advocates worry the new markings might not be enough — and have called on DOT to study repurposing another of the bridge’s 26 car lanes for two-wheelers.
“Repainting and new bollards are really the bare minimum of what we want on the bridge,” said Francke. “A single bike lane is really not enough for the volume of people that are biking through. We really need more than a single shared two-way bike lane.”
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