The Department of Transportation has officially announced that beginning in September 1999 the North Outer Roadway of the Queensboro Bridge will be dedicated solely to bicyclists, pedestrians, skaters and other non-motorized travelers. The car-free path is a huge win for bridge users and Transportation Alternatives, and comes after decades of struggle and broken promises. For T.A., the realization of a dedicated bike/walkway closes our longest running advocacy campaign. Spanning an era over more than twenty years, hundreds, perhaps thousands of activists banded together for a single cause.

The most recent chapter in this epic opened in November 1996 when the city opened the bike/ped path to Manhattan bound traffic. Cyclists and peds using the bridge were forced to board a shuttle bus or van during the weekday evening rush, (2:30-7:30pm). Bike traffic on the bridge has plummeted 80#&37; since the change. The DOT’s action was precipitated by a traffic routing fiasco at the Manhattan entrance to the bridge that outraged area residents and left politicians scrambling. Since then anything to do with bridge has remained politically red-hot.

The Queensboro Bridge is by far the busiest of the East River bridges, carrying more than 200,000 motor vehicles a day versus 150,000 on the Brooklyn and 100,000 on the Williamsburg. In comparison, about a thousand bicyclists and pedestrians use the Queensboro bike/ped path on an average spring day. The City has long pointed to this disparity as a reason for allowing cars on the bike path during rush hours. Yet, this is the same faulty logic invoked when new roads are built in order to ease traffic congestion. Ultimately, it is pretty simple-if the City seriously wants fewer people driving and more cycling it must encourage cycling and discourage driving.

The City faces additional considerations on path issues. First is the Surface Transportation Act of 1980 and subsequently ISTEA and TEA-21, which require that Federally funded bridge projects cannot sever existing bike/ped “access.” This law has guaranteed at least some kind of bridge path. However, “access” has been interpreted elsewhere to mean a bus shuttle service at certain times of day. With the completion of construction, the City can no longer cite allowing cars on the path as a temporary measure. Whatever the reason, T.A. welcomes the new path and the City’s Department of Transportation’s commitment to it.

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