In 1979 cyclists and pedestrians were granted exclusive use of the 8 to 11 foot wide South Outer Roadway. But whenever major construction was done elsewhere on the bridge, traffic was diverted onto the roadway. In June 1990, bicyclists and pedestrians were required during the evening rush period to use a slow and unreliable van service and eventually an escort car that was often delayed by traffic. At the time, T.A. surveyed cyclists and pedestrians using the bridge and found that most chose to risk their lives riding with traffic rather than endure interminable delays. One of the frustrated cyclists using the bridge was Delphine Taylor, a magazine writer and editor:

“John and I lived in Astoria and biked to work in Manhattan because we were far from the subway. One day, without warning, there was car traffic on the bike path. We found ourselves riding on a metal grid, 8 to 11 feet wide, with cars blowing past us at 30 to 40 mph, and we’d have about two feet between the bridge railing and the fender of a car. The goal was to get off the bridge as fast as possible.

Sometime that summer, we began seeing signs saying ‘Fight the bridge closing.’ So, at TA’s annual picnic in Queens Bridge Park we volunteered to help organize demonstrations on the bridge. Initially, we had about 30 people. Our first strategy was to block traffic entering the South Outer Roadway from the Manhattan side. It was both fun and miserable. We were hassled by the police, threatened by motorists, deafened by traffic, and choked by diesel fumes. So we decided instead to turn the demonstrations into a slow walk-ride across the bike path. The plan was to take an hour and a half—from 5:30 until 7—to cross the roadway, with traffic of course backing up behind us. We had a wonderfully mixed group of people. It was amazing how many people would come week after week, even when it rained, and got darker in the fall.

We’d always stop in the middle of the bridge and say, “Take a look, isn’t this the most fantastic sight?” We’d see the river flowing 300 feet below us and Manhattan’s sky line stretching out all the way to downtown. All the people speeding by on the inner roadway were missing it, and those laying on their horns behind us were just too pissed off to appreciate it. We really felt privileged. There was a lot of singing, we had a Queensboro Bridge song, and people would take turns telling stories.

The police and the DOT started to notice us, obviously, but for some reason they tolerated us. Enough so that we staged 20 demonstrations in 1990 and another ten the next year. Eventually, we decided to stage arrests to attract media attention. Six people volunteered ahead of time to be arrested.”

The arrests took place on the 20th demonstration, October 22, 1990.

The case of the “QB6” came to trial in March 1991. The presiding criminal court judge, Laura Safer-Espinoza, issued a historic decision that for the first time upheld the use of a “moral necessity” defense in a New York court. The judge also sharply criticized the city and DOT for restricting bicycle and pedestrian access.

For three-and-a-half years—between 1993 and November 1996—cyclists and pedestrians regained exclusive access to the South Outer Roadway.

In November 1996, claiming a “traffic emergency,” Mayor Giuliani banned cyclists and walkers from the Queensboro Bridge during peak use period of 3 pm to 8 pm. T.A. Executive Director John Kaehny recalls:

“Despite multiple promises that the bridge would remain car-free, DOT announced cars would once again take the bike path from 3pm to 8pm. So we had a demo — 300 cyclists, 200 riot cops. I talked on the phone to Deputy Mayor Rudy Washington and told him all we wanted was to cycle and walk across the South Outer Roadway, and that there potentially could be 100s of pointless arrests that would make the Mayor look bad. He called back with Mayor Giuliani right next to him and the Mayor said ‘you will be arrested if you step on the bridge.’ The cops had their plastic handcuffs out on display. So instead we rode up to Gracie mansion and had an impromptu Critical Mass Ride. It was great fun. After eight, my feet were solid lumps so I went home. A friend and about 30 other cyclists crossed the Queensboro bike path to Queens, and found 50 motorcycle cops from the Queens riot squad waiting for them. It was about nine o’clock and nobody had told them to go home. It was freezing and the cops had been there since two in the afternoon. They said, ‘If we take you back to Manhattan, will you go home?’ and the cyclists said ‘yeah, we’re freezing.’ So the cops escorted them straight back to Manhattan on the inner roadway, sirens screaming.”

In December, T.A. filed suit to gain an injunction against the roadway closing, arguing that by changing the status of the bicycle lane without notice or public comment, the city had violated the City Administrative Procedure Act. T.A. lost.

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