Bike Lane On Northern Blvd. Would Increase Safety Two Times Over: Activists

The Mamdani administration must add a bike lane and safety infrastructure on Northern Boulevard to improve conditions on both the six-lane commercial roadway and the parallel Paseo Park open street, Queens residents and elected leaders demanded at a rally on Wednesday.

Supporters of Paseo Park — long hailed by city officials as “the gold standard” of open streets — made the demand for two interlocked reasons: With cars largely banished, Paseo Park is so safe now that it has become a popular route for delivery cyclists, who, meanwhile, shun dangerous Northern Boulevard.

Mayor Mamdani and Gov. Hochul named Northern Boulevard one of the five corridors to get bus rapid transit, targeted for completion in 2030. The advocates view that announcement as a chance to improve safety for cyclists during the redesign.

“Northern Boulevard is the right place for the administration to expand its micromobility infrastructure to create a safe passage for delivery workers away from pedestrians, away from children walking to school,” said Dawn Siff, executive director of Alliance for Paseo Park. “We believe that 34th Avenue should be pedestrian first, and then slow bike traffic. So it’s all about people who are cutting through our neighborhood and moving through quickly, we believe should be on Northern.”

The activists made their demands for the bike lane after the city has already focused considerable attention on Northern Boulevard, which in the earlier part of this decade earned the nickname “New Boulevard of Death” after several high-profile fatal collisions caused by car drivers. The carnage led the city to install a bus lane and add pedestrian islands, high-visibility crosswalks, and altered traffic light timing, among other changes.

On the block where advocates gathered Wednesday, Northern Boulevard has a bus lane, a moving lane for regular vehicles, and a lane for car storage. There is nowhere to safely ride a bike.

The owner of the Queensboro, the restaurant on the corner, said the dangers of the street were made brutally clear in 2024 when a driver drove into a group of pedestrians, injuring two.

“That’s one example of how out-of-control driving in this city can and does affect everyone around us,” said the owner, Dudley Stewart, flanked by elected officials including Queens Borough President Donovan Richards and Council Member Shekar Krishnan. “That’s why I’m a big supporter of what we’re here for today.”

One mother of an elementary-school kid learned first-hand why a beautiful, virtually car-free linear park still needs traffic calming in the face of New York’s relentless hunger for delivered goods. The same lack of car infrastructure that attracts families also attracts fast-moving deliveristas.

“My son still talks to this day about the time he was scooting to school and was hit by a moped,” said Molly Weissman, referring to her 3-year-old son, who needed to go to the ER. “Let’s make it safe for everybody, and make sure that our kids can get to school without worrying about being hit by a moped.”

Advocates say the answer isn’t to blame the deliveristas. Instead, it’s to blame the infrastructure.

“Instead of scapegoating the deliveristas, we’re really thinking about redesigning our streets infrastructure for workers,” said Ligia Guallpa, executive director of the Workers Justice Project. “The streets are their workplace.”

Jagat, an Uber Eats cyclist who asked to be identified by first name only, said he bikes on 34th Avenue because of the bike lane. He said he would bike on Northern if there was a bike lane. German, a cyclist working for Doordash, said he felt the same, though he had to rush when the light changed to make his delivery.

Street safety improvements always involve controversy — and removing a lane of car storage on Northern would likely earn howls from car owners, who represent a minority of area residents, but have exhibited outsized influence over politicians. 

When the city began to add bus lanes to Northern Boulevard in 2022, then-Council Member Francisco Moya opposed the effort, even though the lane was set to serve 15,000 weekday commuters.

Richards recalled that when the bus lanes went in, people insisted the world was coming to an end.

“I don’t see any cars backed up on this boulevard,” Richards said, gesturing towards the flowing traffic of cars and buses on Northern on Wednesday.

That same logic would apply to a micromobility lane, which Richard said would give delivery workers a dedicated space to ride while keeping travel lanes for buses and cars.

“There’s no reason we can’t get creative,” Richards said.

Siff declined to explain where the Paseo Park Alliance wanted the space for a new bike lane Northern Boulevard to come from, deferring to DOT. 

Agency spokesman Vin Barone did not address specific questions from Streetsblog about the demand for a bike lane on Northern, but did say the activists had grabbed an ear.

“Through Vision Zero, we have been able to bring traffic deaths to historic lows, and are reviewing the request for additional safety upgrades to Northern Boulevard,” Barone said.