Queensboro Bridge

Spans the East River.

The North Outer Roadway is open for the exclusive use of bicyclists and pedestrians 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The path connects Long Island City with Midtown Manhattan. T.A. worked for nearly twenty years to see this permanent route established. Nicknamed "The People's Roadway," the path's temporary closures in the 1980s and 1990s became a potent symbol of government indifference to bicyclists and walkers. Today, the path is a heavily used bike commuter route, though the existing Manhattan approach forces cyclists exiting to the south to make a dangerous three-block detour in order to reach Second Avenue.

Queensboro Bridge by Numbers:

Distance: 7042 feet
Design: Two-level cantilever bridge built in 1909.
Engineer: Gustav Lindenthal
Architect: Henry Hornbostel
Manhattan entrance: 60th Street, between Second and First Avenues
Queens entrance: Queens Plaza and Crescent Street
Other info: The Queensboro bride bike and pedestrian path closes every year for the running of the New York City marathon.

Click here for the Queens and Manhattan side approaches to this bridge.

T.A. Magazine Articles about the Queensboro Bridge:

• Queensboro Bridge Improvements Sitting on City Planning's Shelf: Spring 2006

• City Planning Designs Safer QBB Access in Queens Plaza, Fall 2005, p.5

• Will QBB Study See the Light?, Summer 2004

• Release of City Planning's Queensboro Bridge Safety Study Badly Needed, Spring 2004

• Landmarks Commission OK's DOT's Oppressive QBB Chain Link Fence, Spring 2004

• Landmarks Approves DOT’s Chain Link Fences on QBB Path, March 30, 2004

• Bridge Bicycle Boom!, Fall 2003
• Landmarks Commission, DOT Work Toward Removing Oppressive Chain Link, Fall 2003
• Landmarks Commission Blasts DOT Chain Link Plan for Queensboro Bridge, November 3,2003
• Bicycling Boom on East River Bridges, October 14, 2003
• Bridge Access Safety Crisis Continues as the DOT Fails to Fix 6 of 8 Entrances, Summer 2002
• Bridge Paths Caged, Spring 2002
• DOT Rejects T.A. Request to Remove Degrading Chain Link Fencing from Bridge Paths, April 22, 2002
• Don't Fence Me In, February 11, 2002
• T.A. Gives "A" Grade to 2001 Cycling Improvements, January 28, 2002
• Making the Grade 2000, T.A.'s Fourth Annual Report On Bicycling in NYC: Bridges, Winter 2001
• Smooth Path to Queens, Fall 2000
• Quick Cooperation by DOT on the QBB, Summer 2000
• Goodbye to the Abhorred Queensboro Bridge Shuttle Bus, May/June 2000
• Making the Grade 1999, T.A.'s Third Annual Report On Bicycling in NYC: Bridges, March/April 2000
• Path Delay Till August 2000, Winter 1999-2000
• DOT Mum on QBB Flyover, October/November 1999
• New Bike Ramp for The Queensboro Bridge?, Summer 1999
• Tales from the Front Lines: A history of struggle for access to the Queensboro Bridge, March/April 1999
• My Grand Canyon, March/April 1999
• Promise of Full-Time Access to Queensboro Bridge, March/April 1999
• 10 Things T.A. Would Like to See in 1999, January/February 1999
• The East River Bridges: 17 Years of Reconstruction and Counting, November/December 1998
• Making the Grade 1998, T.A.'s Second Annual Report On Bicycling in NYC: Bridges, November/December 1998
• QBB Path Switch Imposes Dangerous Detours on Cyclists, September/October 1998
• QBB Alert: Cyclists to North Path, July/August 1998
• Skid-Free QBB, March/April 1998
• City Slides on Queensboro Bridge, January/February 1998
• Permanent Path For Queensboro Confirmed, November/December 1997
• Harassment at QBB and Brooklyn Bridge, September/October 1997
• City Ponders North Outer Roadway Path For Queensboro, September/October 1997
• Making the Grade: NYC & Bicycling in 1997: Bridges, July/August 1997
• Judge Runs Over T.A. QBB Lawsuit, May/June 1997
• Spring Surprise on Queensboro Bridge?, March/April 1997
• T.A. Mounts Campaign To Save QBB Bike Path, January/February 1997
• Queensboro Bridge Will Stay Open for Bikes & Peds, July/August 1996
• Which Way to the Brooklyn Bridge?, May/June 1996
• Bicycling Basics: Five Fundamental Steps Toward Better Bicycling in NYC: Bridges, May/June 1996
• Yet Another Flawed Plan for Queensboro Bridge, March/April 1996
• The Struggle: Bikes and Pedestrians on the Queensboro Bridge, March/April 1996

T.A. Quotes in the Media on the Queensboro Bridge

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• Legally Speaking - with Bob Mionske: The right to go from point 'A' to point 'B', Velo News, September 2, 2004
• Cycling surges in NYC, am New York, July 12, 2004
• Need a Ride? Bike Commuting in NYC Hits High Point, MetroSports New York, May 2004
• City approves 7-ft. fence for Queensboro Bridge, Astoria Times, March 4, 2004
• Queensboro Bridge To Be Fenced In, and Some Fear Spread of Chain Links, New York Sun, March 3, 2004
• Urban Cycling: A Tale of Two Cities, Metropolis, December 2003
• City Cyclists Put Pedal to Mettle: Bike traffic over bridges hits 23-year high, Newsday, October 2, 2003
• The Sum of the Parts, The Ride, October 1, 2002
• On Bridges, the View Includes Chain Links, New York Times, June 22, 2002
• Boro cyclists hit streets in alternative commute, Times-Ledger, May 23, 2002
• Mettle to the Pedal, New York Post, May 4, 2002
• A Day for Sunday Drivers on Two Wheels, New York Times, May 3, 2002
• Cyclists Plead For More Bridge Security, Daily News, August 9, 2001
• The Prophet of NYC, The Ride, May 2000
• Where Cars Are On Crash Course, New York Post, February 22, 2000
• Cyclists Want a Ramp And So Does the City, New York Times, January 2, 2000

T.A. Testimony on the Queensboro Bridge

• New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing on Proposed Chain Link Fencing on the Queensboro Bridge's Bicycle and Pedestrian Path, September 23, 2003
• Letter in Protest of Modification of Landmarked Queensboro Bridge to Include Chain Link Fence, January 23, 2003

• NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission to Issue Ruling on DOT Proposed 7’ Chain Link Fence on Queensboro Bridge, March 1, 2004

Other materials on the Queensboro bridge:

• The People’s Roadway — 1978: From the New York Times [3/99]