Spring Surprise on Queensboro Bridge

Read the latest news about this issue.

Last November, Mayor Giuliani banned cyclists walkers from the Queensboro Bridge during their peak use period of 3PM to 8PM, declaring a "traffic emergency." The Mayor claimed that as many as 1,100 cars an hour would use the lane as opposed to only 50 cyclists and pedestrians. Last issue we took the Mayor to task for his misinformation. Now, City sources say that they are counting an average of slightly fewer than 400 cars an hour versus the 140 cyclists and pedestrians an hour that used it in the month prior to the closure. Warm weather is expected to bring a flood of cyclists and walkers to the bridge's already overcrowded bus shuttle service. City sources say there is a real chance the lane will revert back to its 24-hour car-free status. Four hundred cars an hour is an indefensibly small number compared to the more than 10,000 plying the bridge each hour of the evening rush. T.A. cited this fact in our lawsuit against the City. It will be decided by Justice Beatrice Shainwit in April or May.

Write/fax Mayor Giuliani and point out that car-use of the lane has been very low, and that traffic is moving better than normal around the bridge, even when the lane is car-free on heavy traffic weekends.

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani
City Hall
New York, NY  10007