Mayor Mamdani’s Department of Transportation will finally follow through on a mothballed 2024 plan to build a new and improved Manhattan-side bike lane and pedestrian entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge.
“Since taking office, our administration has been guided by a simple promise: streets that are safe and accessible for every New Yorker,” Mayor Mamdani said in a statement. “Whether you’re driving, walking, or biking across the Brooklyn Bridge, you deserve to get where you’re going with ease and without fear.”
“This new design will better protect cyclists and pedestrians as we prepare to welcome the world for the FIFA World Cup — and show that our streets truly reflect the best of New York City.”
DOT will begin start construction in April of the Adams-era proposal to give cyclists and pedestrians their own entrances to the bridge from Centre Street/Park Row. It’s expected to be done in time for the arrival of football-mad World Cup visitors.
Once complete, the new entrance will allow cyclists to get on and off the bridge at Park Row without having to cut through a crowd of pedestrians. DOT’s redesign will convert a left-turn bay for cars on southbound Centre Street between Chambers Street and the bridge’s roadway entrance into a two-way protected bike lane.
The agency introduced the idea back in September 2024. But like so many good and ambitious projects proposed under former Mayor Eric Adams, the idea sat on a shelf like a baseball player benched for not hustling out a ground ball.
Fixing the pedestrian/cyclist conflict addresses the one oversight of the city’s original effort to install a protected bike lane on the Brooklyn Bridge roadway in 2021.
The current setup of the Brooklyn Bridge is pretty sucky for cyclists, who have to make a hairpin turn (circle) into pedestrians as they exit the bridge.
The bike lane was an immediate hit when it was installed and remains popular: There were 2,652 daily bike rides in 2021 on the span by 2025 the number of daily bike rides doubled to 5,625, according to city figures.
Mamdani’s administrations wants to the project done before the World Cup in June — ensuring that hordes tourists asking people, “Where can I find 9/11?” and trying to tie to their garbage to the Brooklyn Bridge will have the necessary space for gawking, taking pictures and recording TikTok dances at the base of the fabled span.
“As we prepare for millions of visitors this summer for the World Cup, New Yorkers can expect a number of permanent improvements to our streetscapes that will make our streets safer and more accessible long after the tournament ends,” said World Cup Czar Maya Handa. “Our goal is to ensure that whether it’s through improved streets or neighborhood activations throughout the summer, all New Yorkers benefit from the World Cup.”
The announcement is the latest effort by Mayor Mamdani to revive or complete the street safety work that Adams killed or left in a drawer.
Already, the mayor has announced that he will revive a bus lane on Madison Avenue, the Fordham Road bus lane, the McGuinness Boulevard road diet, a painted bike lane network in East Flatbush, the missing piece of the Ashland Place protected bike lane and a pair of protected bike lanes on Brooklyn and Kingston avenues in the Wingate section of East Flatbush.