Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Bike Commute Video: Canal Street Chaos & Manhattan Bridge Mayhem
By
Christopher Robbins
Published May 17, 2016
Modified Jul 11, 2016
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Christopher Robbins
Published May 17, 2016
Modified Jul 11, 2016
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Many hardened cycling commuters will watch this week's 2.5 mile ride from the Lower East Side to DUMBO and laugh. "This isn't even a ride, let alone a commute," their GU-stained fingers will type into the comment section below. To which this commuter will reply: jealousy is a bitch.
Most mornings, Canal Street is the main hazard—its mixture of double-parked cars (I'm looking at you, FDNY Engine 9, Ladder 6), box trucks, comically oversized buses, forklifts held together with duct tape, and other entropic distractions that can awaken even the groggiest morning commuter.
Pedal, brake, pedal, dead pigeon, dead pigeon, pigeons eating vomit, skateboard, pothole, swerve, veer, green light, burning smell, that guy is really cackling what's he cackling at don't turn your head—casino bus!
Yet as the weather gets warmer, the Brooklyn-bound cyclist's concern also includes the entrance to the Manhattan Bridge bike path. The issue has been especially acute since the City's Department of Design and Construction began working on the Forsyth Street Plaza project in April of 2015.
First, drivers coming off of the bridge and heading east onto Canal Street frequently obstruct the paths of cyclists attempting to enter and exit the bridge, creating the blockage you see above, in which cyclists have to thread their way between cars.
This creates those You go ahead—No, after you, I insist moments while the clock on the traffic signal that few of us can see (because it is being blocked) ticks down to zero, which is when the box trucks filled with dead pigs and the brave idiots who commute into Lower Manhattan every morning by car are required by law to accelerate as fast as possible through this intersection and into the gridlocked intersection waiting for them on the next block.
Once you make it up the incline towards the bridge, the path narrows considerably due to the construction. You can't see who is biking off the bridge until you're within a few feet of the entrance.
This is also the exact moment that those Manhattan-bound cyclists, filled with joy from racing through the dark tunnel and the roller coaster serpentine of the final 20 yards or so of the Manhattan Bridge, tend to be going pretty fast. They cannot see their Brooklyn-bound compatriots, who are vulnerable and sluggish from the incline and the hour, until they are right at the mouth of the entrance.
This near-blind curve is followed by the aforementioned tunnel portion, then an actual blind curve.
Add the inevitable pedestrians who have no clue there is an entire other path devoted for their use (because no clear signage exists), the cyclists who simply must type text messages while rolling around these curves, and cyclists who insist on passing without a cursory "On your left" as they scrape the edge of your aura, precious centimeters from your fragile human body, and your day just began with a lot of muttering and cursing.
The cycling commuter's experience should improve at the mouth of the Manhattan Bridge once the Forsyth Street Plaza is completed—the $3.5 million project to bring 10,000 feet of public space to Canal and Forsyth Streets was supposed to be completed by winter of 2015.
A DDC spokesperson says the current projected completion date is "summer 2016," weather permitting, of course.
Asked when drivers will stop double-parking, running red lights, and blocking crosswalks before renouncing automobiles altogether, a spokesperson for Everything That Is Decent And Humane tells us, "don't hold your breath."
In the meantime: phones are for pedestrians, blind curves are for braking, and bells alert others to your presence.
Tagged
canal street
gothamist films
manhattan bridge
my NYC bike commute
original
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
What we know about the ICE shooting in NYC
A federal immigration agent shot a Dominican immigrant in the neck in Marble Hill Thursday night.
By
Karen Yi
Published Oct 10, 2026 at 6:00 a.m. ET
DSA to Mamdani: Fire NYPD commissioner if ICE doesn't leave NYC
The DSA's NYC chapter accused the NYPD of collaborating with ICE and demanded Mayor Mamdani hold Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch responsible.
By
Elizabeth Kim
,
Brigid Bergin
and
Ben Feuerherd
News
DSA to Mamdani: Fire NYPD commissioner if ICE doesn't leave NYC
The DSA's NYC chapter accused the NYPD of collaborating with ICE and demanded Mayor Mamdani hold Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch responsible.
By
Elizabeth Kim
,
Brigid Bergin
and
Ben Feuerherd
Two people killed in Bronx vehicle crash
By
Kaya Laterman
NY will opt in Trump’s school choice program, Hochul says
By
Jon Campbell
Residents, lawmakers warned for months of potential for deadly ICE activity in Marble Hill
By
David Brand
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .