The Peoples Roadway

Queensboro Bridge

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A History of Struggle for Access to the Queensboro Bridge

The Peoples Roadway — 1978

From The New York Times, June 10, 1983
Reprinted in Transportation Alternatives Magazine,
Mar/Apr 1999

One bright summer day in 1978, a group of cyclists, in defiance of New York traffic laws, rode their bicycles across an outer lane of the Queensboro Bridge and hung a banner that read, ‘Peoples Roadway.’ About a year later, the Koch administration opened a lane on the bridge that was reminiscent of 1909 when the span was new and its pedestrian promenade was a major feature. Next month, however, a new phase of rehabilitation will begin on the Queensboro, and the outer lane now used by bikes and joggers will revert to automobile use.”

“It’s discriminatory. Somehow if you are an automobile driver you have more rights. The city’s attitude, you don’t count, we can’t be bothered, take the subway. Well, why not say that to the drivers,” said Janet Weinberg of Transportation Alternatives.