Queensboro bridge (Photo by Michael Dorgan, Queens Post, taken on March 16, 2022)
April 10, 2025 By Shane O’Brien
Elected officials in Queens and Manhattan have penned an open letter to Mayor Eric Adams and Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez to express concerns over delays in opening a dedicated pedestrian walkway across the Queensboro Bridge.
State Senators Mike Gianaris, Kristen Gonzalez and Liz Krueger, Assembly Members Zohran Mamdani and Alex Bores, and Council Members Julie Won and Julie Menin have expressed concerns over “further delays” to the Queensboro Bridge Pedestrian Path, a long-awaited walkway dedicated to pedestrians crossing the bridge.
At present, the Queensboro Bridge remains the only city-owned bridge on the East River without separate paths for cyclists and pedestrians, with critics stating that cyclists and pedestrians are instead forced into a single lane.
City officials had planned to celebrate a ribbon-cutting for the new walkway last month, according to a New York Times report, only for Adams to pull the brakes at the last minute. City Hall officials said at the time that the Department of Transportation had failed to properly brief the Adams Administration about the project before the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Elected officials on both sides of the East River have called on the Mayor to take action.
Krueger, Menin, and Bores, who represent districts in Manhattan, have joined Gonzalez, who represents parts of both Queens and Manhattan and Queens elected officials Mamdani, Gianaris, and Won to call on the Mayor not to delay the opening of this “much-needed” walkway any longer.
“Any further delays to this project that is otherwise ready to open will unnecessarily put at risk the thousands of New Yorkers who cycle and walk the current shared path every day,” the elected officials said in the letter.
They described the cancellation of last month’s ribbon-cutting ceremony as “deeply concerning” and stated that the reasons cited for the delay were “not satisfactory.”
“All communications from the DOT have indicated that the project is complete and ready to be open to the public.”
The letter further noted that the project aimed to address a years-long problem that has forced cyclists and pedestrians to share a narrow track measuring less than 10 feet in width.
“There is not enough room for two bikes going in opposite directions to pass each other without veering into the area designated for pedestrians. This creates a hazard on the pathway and contributes to the high rate of collisions that occur on the pathway.”
The Queensboro Bridge Pedestrian Pathway was first announced in 2021 and dates back to former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Bridges for the People initiative aiming to help New Yorkers leave the “era of fossil fuels.”
The pathway was initially due to be constructed in 2022 but was subsequently delayed until 2024 while the DOT carried out repairs to the upper deck of the Queensboro Bridge. The project involved converting a car lane on the southern outer roadway for pedestrians, with the current outer roadway on the northern side of the bridge designated for cyclists.
A City Hall spokesperson said Adams must be fully briefed on how the DOT intends to roll out the projects before he gives the green light. The spokesperson added that Adams intends to respond to the letter.
“As Mayor Adams has said, this is a major project that – as the elected officials who wrote this letter themselves note – will impact several communities and two boroughs worth of traffic,” City Hall spokesperson Allison Maser said in a statement. “The mayor, therefore, must be provided a full briefing on how the agency plans to roll this out smoothly and ensure New Yorkers can continue to get to where they need to go efficiently. We will respond to the letter.”
Featured Events
