Bike Lane Advocates To Host 'Women's Ride' On Queens Blvd

Queens, NY - Local cyclist groups will celebrate Queens Boulevard's newly installed bike lanes - and the women who ride them - with a 7-mile ride along the cross-borough roadway.

"Women's Ride On Queens Boulevard," the brainchild of several advocate groups who call themselves "the Queens Bike Family," will function both as a show of empowerment for the city's women, girl and gender nonconformist bikers, and as a show of support for the controversial lanes installed along the Queens roadway once nicknamed the "Boulevard of Death."

Ladies from the advocate groups toyed with the idea of a "Women's Ride" several times before setting a date for March 25, said Laura Shepard, who co-chairs the Queens Boulevard Committee for Transportation Alternatives. The nonprofit is among 15 local and citywide groups sponsoring the ride.

"It's to demonstrate and celebrate the face that women bike in New York City, and especially in Queens, because the stereotype is that (biking is) heavily male-dominated," Shepard told Patch. "While there still is a large gap, that's really not the case."

The ride, which starts in Long Island City and ends in Kew Gardens, aims to highlight that gender gap and empower women - and young girls - to fill it.

"We want to inspire more girls - and boys - to bike as well," Shepard said.

The ride will also attempt to garner support for Queens Boulevard's new bike lanes, which were installed over the last few years in stages as part of Mayor Bill de Blasio's "Vision Zero" initiative to eliminate traffic deaths in New York City. Their presence has divided communities ever since.

Proponents like Transportation Alternatives argue the bike lanes are crucial to pedestrian safety on the once deadly roadway. Areas of the former "Boulevard of Death" upgraded with bike lanes have since gone three years without a single traffic fatality. Meanwhile, the bike lanes have encouraged more residents to bike to their destinations, the advocates say.

But critics in some neighborhoods paint a vastly different picture.

Rego Park residents have been particularly vocal in claims that the new bike lanes are dangerous to drivers and pedestrians, take up valuable parking and have rarely been used since their installation last fall. Dozens packed a Q&A with the city's Department of Transportation in January to share their distaste for the lanes, including business owners who claim they saw double digit losses after the bike lanes wiped out nearly 200 parking spaces for potential customers.

A handful of Forest Hills residents are speaking out against the next - and last - stretch of bike lanes in the project, slated to go up this year from Yellowstone Boulevard to Union Turnpike. The neighborhood's Chamber of Commerce president even launched a petition against the bike lanes, which garnered more than 800 signatures in two weeks.

But despite the vocal opposition, Shepard insists a lot of Queens residents support the bike lanes. Around 100 people had already registered for the ride before she sent out the press release Tuesday afternoon - and she's expecting a lot more.

"We've been finding a lot of support in all communities for the bike lanes," she said. "We have more than 50 letters of support from Forest Hills businesses."

Shepard hopes the March 25 event will further the reach of their support.

"We don't have a target number in mind, but it's encouraging that so many people have signed up," she said.

The 7-mile bike ride will start at 11 a.m. at the Queens Plaza North in Queensbridge Park Greenway, winding up Skillman/43rd Avenue to Queens Boulevard. It will end with a brief rally at the newly rededicated Women's Plaza outside Queens Borough Hall. The ride is free, but participants must RSVP online.

"This is an inclusive event," Shepard said. "Everyone is welcome to join us - Literally anybody."

Lead image via Noleen Burke/Transportation Alternatives