Astoria Business Owners Protest Plan For 31st Street Bike Lane

ASTORIA, QUEENS — The Department of Transportation has yet to settle on a design for its plan to add protected bike lanes to 31st Street, but a group of small business owners is already lambasting the potential bike paths as a threat to their livelihoods.

More than 300 people have signed onto a petition against installing bike lanes along 31st Street, a two-way thoroughfare that runs north-to-south under the elevated N/W subway tracks.

Longtime Astoria resident Giovanni Dellapolla, who owns Access Auto and Tire Center on 31st Street near 39th Avenue, launched the petition Sunday to lobby City Council Members Jimmy Van Bramer and Costa Constantinides and Queens Community Board 1 to oppose the Department of Transportation's redesign.

"I have flatbed trucks coming in and out, which would pose a hazard to cyclists and block the bike lane," Dellapolla wrote. "I wouldn’t be able to put customer’s cars in my driveway to await customer pickup which would hurt us severely."

"It might be a sign to pack up and leave Astoria," Dellapolla added.

Under the 31st Street redesign, a protected bike lane would start just north of 40th Avenue and run all the way to 20th Avenue, according to the Department of Transportation. If approved, the redesign could happen as early as this summer.

While the petition claims that the protected bike lanes on 31st Street would run between the curb and a row of parked cars, a Department of Transportation spokesperson told Patch the agency hasn't stated where the bike lanes would be located.

Asked for comment for this article, the spokesperson avoided addressing any of the other claims made in the petition.

"DOT has worked collaboratively with CB1 to share information on the proposed lanes as well as gather feedback from the community," spokesperson Alana Morales said in an emailed statement. "DOT will be at Community Board 1’s Full Board meeting on March 17th to continue our outreach efforts and solicit feedback from the community and members."

The 31st Street redesign part of the agency's plan to beef up Astoria's bike network, which also includes plans for a protected bike path along Crescent Street and a constellation of shared lanes for cyclists and drivers.

Contrary to the petition's claims about safety, the Department of Transportation found that protected bike paths are associated with a 15-percent drop in crashes that cause injuries, according to the agency's analysis of police data from 2007 to 2017.

Studies in several U.S. cities, including New York City, have also found that replacing parking with bike lanes has little to no impact on business and, in some cases, is correlated with an increase in business, according to CityLab.

Nonetheless, the petition has already secured support from a handful of auto shop owners and the family behind the popular King Souvlaki food truck that parks on 31st Street and 31st Avenue, and the number of signatures continues growing.

"This proposed bike lane is ridiculous and a direct attack on all the local businesses along 31st Street," the Tsampas family, which runs the King Souvlaki truck, wrote. "This bike lane will displace us, costing us valuable time and money, and ultimately put us out of business."