Mayor de Blasio said Thursday that construction will begin this year on a plan to give cyclists and pedestrians their own dedicated lanes on separate sides of the Queensboro-Ed Koch Bridge during his state of the city address.
The plan also calls for the innermost Manhattan-bound lane of the Brooklyn Bridge to a two-way protected bike path, while converting the existing bike-pedestrian crossing to the exclusive use of pedestrians.
“The Brooklyn Bridge and the Queensboro Bridge are iconic and deeply intertwined in the daily lives of countless New Yorkers,” the mayor said in a summary provided by his office. “Now, it’s time to bring them into the 21st century and embrace the future with a radical new plan.
“On the Queensboro Bridge, we will begin construction this year to convert the north outer roadway into a two-way bike-only lane and convert the south outer roadway to a two-way pedestrian-only lane,” de Blasio said.
Construction is not expected to be complete until 2022.
The northern outer lane on the Manhattan-bound side right now is shared by pedestrians and cyclists, and while painted lanes and signs supposedly assign both their separate lanes, it’s pretty much a matter of the honor system.
update:
In the comments, George the Atheist pointed out the moped (with the fake plate) that I caught zipping down the bridge along with bikers and how this might cause a problem if these two way lanes the city is proposing might lead to an escalation of these scofflaws taking advantage of these new amenities. Well, let this here be confirmation of that:
@TransAlt @NYCMayor @BenKallos @JimmyVanBramer @StreetsblogNYC @StreetsPAC @NYCSpeakerCojo
— JQ LLC, Joe Biden is a George H.W. Bush Socialist (@jqllc) January 29, 2021
This is what will be seen on the new bike lanes on the Brooklyn and Queens Bridges
Illegal motorcycle riding
Correction,people riding unregistered and unlicensed motorcycles
fools https://t.co/hTw7o5BWms
