Hello, my name is Noah Budnick. I am Projects Director for Transportation Alternatives, the advocates for bicyclists, pedestrians and sensible transportation. Transportation Alternatives (T.A.) would like to thank the Landmarks Preservation Commission for convening this hearing.

Included with our testimony today are letters opposing the proposed chain link fence from Civitas, the Historic Districts Council, the Gotham Center, the Preservation League of New York State and the Queens Historical Society.

Transportation Alternatives opposes the New York City Department of Transportation's planned installation of a seven-foot tall chain link fence along the entire length of the Queensboro Bridge's bicycle and pedestrian path. We believe that the DOT's proposed fencing will be aesthetically disastrous and would demoralize and discourage users of the path. The path already has an aesthetically pleasing railing, which is consistent with the bridge's original design, meets nationally recognized safety standards and does not interfere with bicycle and pedestrian usage of this lovely landmark.

If there is a need to address public safety concerns regarding the bridge path, Transportation Alternatives would advocate for a plan that preserves the existing fence configuration on the path and improves the quality of current seven-foot high fences. Right now, there are unattractive, seven-foot high chain link fences on the sections of the bridge's bicycle and pedestrian path that pass over Manhattan, Roosevelt Island and Queens, and four and half-foot high fences on the sections above the East River. The sections of chain link fence could be replaced with a more aesthetically pleasing and historically appropriate fence that is tall enough to ensure public safety, leaving the four and a half foot high fences and grand views over the East River intact. Though we prefer that no enveloping fences be constructed along the Queensboro Bridge's bicycle and pedestrian path, Transportation Alternatives recognizes the City's need to be sensitive to public safety.

Transportation Alternatives strongly support the increased safety of the path using public. We have written to the Department of Transportation and the New York Police Department supporting their requests for Federal funding to install video surveillance cameras on all the East River bridge bicycle and pedestrian paths. In recent years, we have lobbied for improved police presence, lighting, call boxes, bridge approaches and signage on the Queensboro and other East River bridges.

However, chain link fence is unpleasant and demoralizing. A chain link fence on the Queensboro Bridge would discourage New Yorkers who walk and bike in an effort to improve their lives and improve the city, caging them in, and rendering them prisoners on the bridge. Cyclists and pedestrians face daunting traffic getting to and from the Queensboro Bridge. Installing this seven-foot high chain link fence would be another blow to cyclists' and pedestrians' dignity.

Aesthetically, the fencing would have a disastrous effect on the elegant flow of the Bridge's existing ironwork. It evokes an era of high crime rates in New York City, paranoia and fear of public spaces. More pragmatic repercussions will follow: a chain link fence will lead to decreased usage of the path, as it becomes a less pleasant, more intimidating experience for cyclists and pedestrians. Decreased usage will result in the path being deserted and thus less safe. This state will further degrade safety on the path and discourage people to walk and bike across it, decreasing the number of people who experience and enjoy the bridge and the views from it.

The Queensboro Bridge opened to pedestrians on June 12, 1909, and pedestrian and bicycle access has existed in one form or another discontinuously throughout most of the Bridge's history. The bridge originally had a footpath on its upper deck, and this path was not enveloped in seven-foot tall chain link fence.

In 1974, when the Queensboro Bridge was designated as a New York City Landmark, it did not have a dedicated bicycle and pedestrian path, and the North Outer Roadway, which is now the bridge's permanent biking and walking path, carried motor vehicles from Queens to Manhattan. At that time, the North Outer Roadway did not have a seven-foot tall chain link fence outboard of the bridge.

The current outer-roadway Bicycle and Pedestrian Path has been open intermittently since 1978. In the Fall of 2000, the NYC Department of Transportation moved the bicycle and pedestrian path from the South Outer Roadway of the Bridge to its current position at the North Outer Roadway. The path sits on the lower of the two roadway levels on the bridge, but there is open air above the path. Users of the path currently enjoy views of the Manhattan and Queens skylines, Roosevelt Island, the Triborough Bridge and of Hell Gate to the North of the Bridge.

The path already has a handmade railing that is consonant with the general aesthetic design of the bridge. The existing fence is four and a half feet (54 inches) high and meets current regulatory requirements for the safety of path users. The authoritative American Association of State Highway Traffic Officials' ("AASHTO") guidelines for safety railings on sections of bridges not passing over railroad tracks or highways state that "Railings, fences, or barriers on both sides of a path on a structure should be a minimum of 1.1m (42 inches) [three and a half feet] high."

The AASHTO guidelines and the New York State Department of Transportation's Bridge Guidelines (which are based on the AASHTO guidelines) mandate seven-foot high chain link fencing for bridges over railroad tracks or highways where there is a risk of vandalism (i.e. objects thrown from the bridge). However, there is no provision mandating or recommending such high fencing for sections of bridges that pass over water. Therefore, the current 54 inch high railing over the water sections of the Bridge is completely adequate to ensure the safety of path users.

Transportation Alternatives has made repeated requests, in writing and in meetings, to the New York City Department of Transportation, the New York Police Department, New York City Law Department and New York City District Attorney's office for documentation of any persons jumping, falling or throwing objects from anywhere on the bicycle and pedestrian path. These parties were unable to refer Transportation Alternatives to any such records.

No police reports, newspaper accounts, or other records of any such incidents involving thrown objects have been received to date. In response to Freedom of Information Law requests, the New York Police Department, New York City Law Department and New York City District Attorney's office indicated that they do not keep statistics documenting such incidents.

Transportation Alternatives has a thirty-year history of advocacy for bicycle and pedestrian access to the Queensboro Bridge and other East River bridges. We led the battle to open the Queensboro Bridge to cyclists and pedestrians in 1978. From 1990 to 2000 our staff and volunteers organized New Yorkers in an effort to preserve 24-hour access to the Queensboro Bridge's bicycle and pedestrian path. With this hard-fought battle won, it would be an injustice to implement a plan that would permanently alter the aesthetic and historical character of the Queensboro Bridge, deprive New York City residents and visitors from the majestic views on the bridge path, and discourage the public from walking and biking across the Queensboro Bridge, limiting their opportunities to experience this landmark.

I would like to conclude with a brief caveat: installing the proposed seven-foot high chain link fence on the landmarked Queensboro Bridge will set a precedent that could allow the New York City Department of Transportation to install a similar fence on the landmarked Brooklyn Bridge. In a June 2002 New York Times article about chain link fencing on East River bridge bicycle and pedestrian paths, a New York City Department of Transportation spokesman said, "…when renovations are inevitably done to the Brooklyn Bridge promenade…chain-link fencing would be installed."

Thank you.