Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that the city Transporation Department will install a separate bike entrance on the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Friday, March 27, 2026.
Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.
The city Department of Transportation (DOT) will redesign the Manhattan-side entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge, separating the way that pedestrians and bicycles access the historic crossing, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced on Friday.
Hizzoner, during a March 27 news conference at Manhattan’s Pier 17, said the project aims to clear up a “chaotic bottleneck” where pedestrians and cyclists jockey over the same space to enter the bridge. It is yet another street improvement project ahead of this summer’s FIFA World Cup; the undertaking will break ground in April and be ready in June before the FIFA World Cup final, which is taking place across the Hudson River in New Jersey.
“This is an opportunity to rectify something that should have been done a long time ago, and also to have a lasting impact that will extend beyond the World Cup final,” Mamdani said.
The effort was first floated by former Mayor Eric Adams’ administration in 2024. However, Mamdani’s predecessor never actually moved forward with the redesign.
It comes after the city built a two-way protected bike lane along the Brooklyn Bridge’s Manhattan-bound roadway in 2021 — separating cyclists from the walking path they had previously shared with pedestrians. The change nearly doubled daily bike ridership on the bridge from 2,652 in 2021 to 5,625 last year, according to DOT.
“But today, the Manhattan approach is crowded, confusing, and forces pedestrians and cyclists to compete for space,” DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn said during the press event.
“So we’re redesigning it pronto,” he continued. “We’re giving pedestrians and cyclists each the space they need, creating a safer, more comfortable approach for everyone.”
A rendering of the new two-way bike lane DOT plans to install on the Manhattan entrance of the Brooklyn Bridge.Image Courtesy of DOT
The project will see a new two-way bike lane installed along Centre Street between Chambers Street and the Brooklyn Bridge entrance. It will merge into the existing bike lane to and from the bridge. The plan also includes widening the Centre Street crosswalk between the bridge’s pedestrian entrance and City Hall Park.
Ben Furnas, executive director of the group Transportation Alternatives, lauded the project as a “great example of how building a high-quality bike network can make New York City a world-class bicycle city.”
Mamdani said his administration is using the upcoming competition as a catalyst for executing transportation infrastructure projects that will be ready for millions of revelers flooding into the city and serve as permanent improvements beyond the festivities.
Last week, the DOT revealed that it will redesign several blocks of Manhattan’s Ninth Avenue around the Lincoln Tunnel and the Port Authority Bus Terminal to boost pedestrian and cyclist space along the corridor. On Wednesday, the agency rolled out a plan for more bike lanes throughout Lower Manhattan.
“While we don’t have the luxury of time before the World Cup, we still do have at least a few months,” Mamdani said. “So we’re looking to make these kinds of investments and also…looking to make the kinds of changes to ensure that transit continues to be reliable and also meets the needs of fans who are going to be coming here.”
The change is also the latest of several paused Adams-era street redesign projects that Mamdani has restarted. Others include a project to build new bus lanes on the Bronx’s Fordham Road and to install bike lanes along a stretch of Brooklyn’s McGuinness Boulevard.