'Terrifying' UES Bridge To Get Pedestrian And Bike Upgrades

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A long-awaited plan to create seperate bike and pedestrian paths on the Queensboro Bridge might happen as soon as this summer, according to the city's Transportation Department.

In a recent presentation to Community Board 8's Transportation Committee, the Department of Transportation said that the south outer roadway will soon be closed to vehicular traffic, and will instead become a dedicated walkway for pedestrians.

Currently, about 8,000 vehicle travel daily on the south outer roadway on average compared to over 7,000 bikes and nearly 3,000 pedestrians currently on the northern roadway.

To walk across the bridge, the proposal calls for people to enter on East 59th Street, just next to Honey Locust Park, where vehicles currently drive to cruise along the south outer roadway.

The DOT plans to add a widened sidewalk to the north side of East 59th Street between First and Second avenues, and a new mid-block crosswalk to make it easier to access the entrance.

According to DOT planner Karissa Lidstrand, the agency will have to wait for a capital project to make a new concrete sidewalk extension, and in the meantime they will mark the area with paint.

Bicycles will continue to use the north outer roadway, but will no longer share the path with pedestrians. Lidstrand said that signage will be added to prevent pedestrians from walking on the north outer roadway.

But bikers will also find an upgrade on East 59th Street, where a new westbound lane will be installed. And the DOT will remove the left turn bay on First Avenue at East 59th Street, allowing them to expand both the existing bike path and a truck loading zone on the avenue.

According to the DOT, the south outer roadway should open to pedestrians in just a few months, by late summer, with all work related to the project to be finished by the end of the year.

The plan was applauded at last week's meeting, with many attendees thanking the DOT for finally following through on a plan first announced under former Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Roosevelt Island resident and Community Board 8 member Paul Krikler said he rides his bike across the bridge multiple times a week.

"It's terrifying," he said. "I'm hugely in favor of this."

"This is the part of the Upper East Side I find kind of the most hectic and harrowing both as a pedestrian and a cyclist," said Dylan Geronimo Kennedy. "I like a lot of the proposed changes. And I think that they will help make the area a little less stressful."

Hendy Schachter called the bridge "the least safe part of cycling on the Upper East Side," and implored the DOT to not hesitate on the fixes.

"Every day that you delay is a day when we may have a fatality," she said. "Here is one of those projects where speed is important."

But though the consensus on the project was a thumbs-up, all commentators recommended the DOT try to do more.

"Frankly, the space won't be enough," Krikler said. "Even if we have just one side for bikes and pedestrians. It's very, very crowded there."