NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – A lane of the Brooklyn Bridge will close to traffic starting next week so that it can be converted into a bike lane that will open later this year, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday.
The Department of Transportation will close the left lane of the Manhattan-bound side of the bridge at 9 p.m. on Monday to begin construction on the bike lane, the mayor said at his daily briefing.
“And when that lane opens back up, it will be brand new, it will be for bikes only,” de Blasio said. “It will be a beautiful and radical reimagining of a New York City icon.”
The two-way, protected bike lane is scheduled to be completed by early fall.
De Blasio said it’s part of a “very ambitious plan we are moving right now to create a record-shattering 30 miles of protected bike lanes this year.”
State Sen. Brian Kavanagh, who joined de Blasio’s briefing, said cyclists often must wind their way through crowds of tourists on the pedestrian/bicycle path of the bridge.
“It’s not ideal from any perspective, either from the perspective of the tourists or from the perspective of New Yorkers trying to get around,” Kavanagh said.
The senator said the new lane is also an opportunity to encourage more people to commute with bicycles, which he called “an important and healthy and environmentally friendly way of getting around” as the city fights climate change.
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