Streetsblog New York City

Using a bike to get between Queens and Manhattan just got safer and easier.

Yesterday afternoon, Streetfilms got tips from fans saying the physically protected bike and pedestrian path at Queens Plaza, which runs between Vernon Boulevard and Northern Boulevard, was finally open. By the time we got there, scores of folks were already taking advantage — many with big, hearty smiles when they saw the finished path. We’ve tried to give you the full experience from as many angles as possible during this nearly half-mile journey, the newest protected bike facility in New York City.

Amazingly, what used to be one of the most congested, noisy, chaotic and ugly spots in the city — a big parking lot, basically — now feels like an oasis of green. Dare we even say, it’s pleasant! Now cyclists have a safe, direct route to and from the bridge, and the new design also gets rid of dangerous wrong-way riding by finally accommodating cyclists’ desire to travel east.

Not so long ago, it was common to hear NYCDOT staff say their job was “to keep the traffic moving.” Engineers working from “the motorist’s viewpoint” ran the show, much like they did in the 1950s. Those days are thankfully over. Today’s DOT prioritizes safety and sustainability and has compiled a lengthy track record of innovation in a few short years. But as the transportation committee of Manhattan Community Board 6 learned last night, the old emphasis on keeping the traffic moving still restrains how far the department will go to improve conditions for other modes.

At the CB meeting, DOT presented plans to speed buses across the Queensboro Bridge and extend the bike lanes on First and Second Avenues from 34th Street to 57th Street. Those changes are underwhelming: mostly traffic signal tweaks for buses, and mostly shared lanes for cyclists.

In explaining why only minor tweaks will be employed to help Queensboro Bridge bus riders and why protected bike lanes won’t be built through Midtown, DOT officials made it clear that anything that slows traffic is off the table. When push comes to shove, in this case, DOT’s other goals are getting trumped by traffic. One can only imagine what might have been if Albany had enacted congestion pricing, easing the peak hour crush of cars on this free bridge.

The need for faster bus service across the Queensboro is pressing. During the evening rush, there are two buses crossing the bridge every minute. They spend their time in grinding traffic, however. From 5:00 to 6:00 p.m., buses travel at only 12.2 miles per hour. That speeds up to 21.2 mph just an hour later.

Eric Beaton, the director of transit development at DOT, defined the department’s goal for the project as increasing bus speeds “without having too much of an impact on the many cars and other people that use the bridge.”

The limits of that approach quickly became clear. One of the four improvements proposed would grant eastbound buses at 57th Street and Third Avenue heading onto the bridge a leading green light so that they can merge from the right side of the street to the left. The buses would get their green during an already-installed leading pedestrian interval at the intersection. “We’re not taking any green away from cars,” promised Beaton.

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Clarence sends along a few more shots from the beginning of construction season. These come from Queens Plaza, where the two-way bike approach to the Queensboro Bridge is extending eastward.

The bike approach, part of a package of public space improvements to Queens Plaza, will eventually connect Vernon Boulevard and Northern Boulevard. The segment between the bridge entrance and Northern Boulevard is well on its way to completion.

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We’ve got another highlight from 2010 construction season to share with you. A two-way, protected approach to the Queens side of the Queensboro Bridge bike-ped path has been paved, striped and open for business since the end of October.

Clarence took these photos of the new approach, part of a package of bicycle and pedestrian improvements that NYC EDC is carrying out at Queens Plaza and vicinity. The project has been in the works for several years and, when finished, will encompass a major reallocation of real estate from cars and parking to public space, walking and biking. The bridge approach in these photos will be a link in a two-way path running from Northern Boulevard to Vernon Boulevard.

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NYC DOT is studying how to speed buses across the car-clogged Queensboro Bridge, and data the agency collected over the summer [PDF] show just how great the need is. Buses are crawling and riders are fed up. Relieving the bottleneck for riders could make transit a far more attractive option for Queens residents. One potential solution — adding dedicated bus lanes to the bridge and its approaches — is a PlaNYC promise waiting to be fulfilled.

Currently, 16,000 New Yorkers ride buses across the Queensboro every day, according to DOT, split about evenly between local and express buses. During the afternoon rush hour, that’s one bus every 30 seconds or so.

And the p.m. rush is also when bus speeds across the bridge slow to the pace of a tortoise. One express bus route across the bridge travels at an average of 12.2 miles per hour between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m., DOT data showed. An hour later in the day, those buses can travel at up to 21.2 mph. Heading through Queens Plaza between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m., express buses crawl along at an average of 4.3 miles per hour — about the same speed as walking.

That Queensboro Bridge buses get snarled in traffic is no surprise. It’s the only free crossing between Queens and Manhattan. Thanks to the Assembly’s refusal to pass congestion pricing 2008, toll-shopping drivers from across the borough and Long Island still funnel into this one point. In 2007, motorists made around 85,000 car and motorcycle trips across the bridge per day in each direction, by far the most auto traffic on any of DOT’s four East River bridges [PDF].

The result is unhappy commuters and presumably fewer bus riders. DOT surveyed riders on Queensboro Bridge bus routes and found that overwhelming majorities saw traffic congestion slowing their commute. The riders estimated that traffic added between five and 15 extra minutes to their trips. Shaving 15 minutes off bus rides could lure a lot more people out of cars and onto transit.

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Of all the City Council districts in New York, the one crying out the loudest for transportation reform might just be the seat vacated by Eric Gioia -- District 26 in the southwestern corner of Queens.

Gioia, after some wobbling, voted yes on congestion pricing last year. For good reason. Like District 33 in Brooklyn, the 26th is a doormat for traffic crossing the East River. All those car commuters enticed by the free pass are a curse for bus riders heading to the transit hub at Queens Plaza or crossing the Queensboro Bridge itself, which handles more bus routes than any other East River bridge. Combined with crammed subways and a boom in car-oriented development along the western Queens waterfront, the picture isn't pretty for transit.  

"The 7 train seems to be at capacity while large residential buildings are sprouting throughout Hunter's Point," said Emilia Crotty, a Woodside resident. "We want to encourage these new residents to use mass transit, of course, but there's very little room for them. Simultaneously, these buildings are being built with ample parking facilities for their new occupants. Our buses are not a viable alternative to the 7 when they sit in backed-up Queensboro Bridge traffic nearly all day long." 

Biking over the bridge instead? As in the neighboring 25th District, both Queens Boulevard and Northern Boulevard cut through here, traffic sewers that discourage cycling and strangle street life near and far. Local community boards have reacted to recent bike safety enhancements, like the buffered lane on Vernon Boulevard, with hostility.

Putting a stop to the free ride over the Queensboro is pretty much the sine qua non for fixing this district's traffic troubles and requires some degree of courage, so the answers to the road pricing question on the TA candidate survey are especially instructive. Candidate Deirdre Feerick, a lawyer who works for the City Council, ruled out bridge tolls and dodged the topic of congestion pricing. Feerick has the backing of Queens Democratic boss Joseph Crowley and former council member Walter McCaffrey of "Keep NYC Congestion Tax Free" fame.

James Van Bramer, a former reporter who now works for the Queens Public Library, acknowledged the effectiveness of congestion pricing but hedged by calling for "careful planning and mitigation" as a pre-condition, citing the belief that commuters from points east might drive to the district, park, then hop on a train or bus to complete their trips. Van Bramer has been endorsed by the New York League of Conservation Voters and has secured the Working Families Party ballot line in November.

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We learned from yesterday's Queensboro Bridge centennial commemoration that the toll was 10 cents for car crossings in 1909. But it wasn't long before motorists were granted the free ride they enjoy to this day. In the midst of the 2002 fight over East River bridge tolls, the Times reported:

All four city bridges had tolls in the early 1900's, including one for pedestrians on the Brooklyn Bridge. But they were abolished in 1911 under Mayor William J. Gaynor, who called them ''inconvenient and irksome'' and declared, ''For my part, I see no more reason for tollgates on the bridges than for tollgates on Fifth Avenue or Broadway.''

Gaynor, a one-time Tammany favorite and apparent inspiration to future city leaders, was also opposed to expansion of the subway system, according to his official bio. In 1910, Gaynor was shot in the throat by a disgruntled city employee, an injury that would end his life three years later. Months after the attack, the mayor ordered the East River bridges to go toll-free, recounted Aaron Naparstek in 2006, prompting speculation in local transpo circles of a link between the two incidents:

While "there's never been a serious connection drawn between the assassination attempt and Gaynor's tolling policy," says former Department of Transportation Deputy Commissioner "Gridlock" Sam Schwartz, "I'm suspicious."

Check out Aaron's full post, written upon the advent of the city's latest congestion pricing debate, for more on the sordid, sometimes violent, and seemingly interminable struggle to preserve the privileges of New York's motoring class.

New York celebrated the 100th birthday of the Queensboro Bridge yesterday, and Clarence Eckerson was on hand to document the occasion for Streetfilms. As pointed out in the vid by "Gridlock" Sam Schwartz, back in 1909 drivers paid 10 cents to cross the Q'boro -- or $4.66 for a round trip in today's dollars. Motorists were accustomed to using the bridge for free by the 1980s, even as it was falling apart, and now pay less than the three pennies it once cost to ride across on horseback.

Even so, with today's bankruptcy filing by General Motors, the Queensboro has held up better than two of the Big Three.

From the Streetsblog tipwire:

The past two mornings there have been NYPD officers parked on the Queensborough Bridge bike/pedestrian path. They've been stopping cyclists in an effort to slow them down with the construction on the bridge. However there's been no active construction when I've ridden through.

Safety is certainly a concern but having an officer bark at cyclists isn't going to be effective. Barriers which would force cyclists to swerve and slow down would be more effective without inflaming cyclist/police antagonism.

While this doesn't match the level of the harassment reports we saw early this spring, it does raise some interesting points. Giving NYPD the benefit of the doubt: Assume there's a real need to slow cyclist traffic and warn riders of potential danger. Is the police presence necessary or would signage and diverters suffice? Can stationing officers be done in a way that doesn't exacerbate tensions between police and cyclists?

If anyone else has encountered officers on the Queensborough lately, please share.

Photo: tommylane/Flickr