Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Video: Freedom-Loving Truck Driver Commandeers Williamsburg Bike Lane
By
Nathan Tempey
Published Jun 24, 2016
Modified Jun 24, 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
Nathan Tempey
Published Jun 24, 2016
Modified Jun 24, 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
Look, sometimes you're driving a big rig through Williamsburg and that one-way isn't going your way but there's this green path to the side that's as wide as a truck with these weird little symbols on it, and well, you know the rest.
A tipster sent these videos yesterday of a tractor-trailer driver driving against vehicle traffic in the two-way bike path on Kent Avenue. Our tipster tells us that the driver turned onto Kent at North Sixth Street at about 12:30 p.m., and drove four blocks to Metropolitan Avenue. The first clip picks up around North Fourth Street, and the second one shows the outlaw trucker hanging an illicit left onto Metropolitan as he yells at the videographer. A word makes it over the engine noise that sounds a lot like "puta."
When the cyclist came alongside the trucker at Metropolitan, he said he told him that the path he'd taken is for bikes.
"My dad is a trucker, so I have a certain amount of sympathy for truck drivers getting disorientied/pressured in urban environments," he explained. "But the driver just said, 'I want to fuck your mother' twice, and he cut [the tipster and another cyclist] off to turn onto Metropolitan."
It so happens that the non-bike part of Kent Avenue is an official truck route, but it's a one-way. To travel south, as the trucker here wanted to, without breaking the law, commercial drivers are supposed to head five blocks over onto Roebling Street, or seven onto Union Avenue.
The city Department of Transportation made Kent one-way and installed the two-direction bike path back in 2009, amid a severe backlash over an earlier iteration of the bike route from local merchants upset about the loss of parking, and Satmar Hasidic Jews upset about the exposed female flesh pedaling through their neighborhood. When the new path went in, and truck drivers could no longer travel in both directions, some locals complained about trucks clogging North 11th Street as part of the rerouting, and a DOT official floated the idea of moving traffic to North 14th Street. That never happened.
It's not clear what exactly this particular truck was hauling, but Gothamist managing editor John Del Signore reports, "That Kent Avenue bike lane is a real fucking shitshow in South Williamsburg these days, with all the construction at Spitzer's building and other developments. From like Broadway to South 10th, it's just forget it."
Last year, a trucker driving illegally on South Fourth Street tried to turn onto Kent Avenue, crashed into a construction wall that activists were in the process of adding a crash victim memorial to, got stuck for half an hour, and finally made it out by driving down the bike path, over a row of bollards.
Our tipster again:
I'm not sure how better designed the Kent Ave. lane could be. It's painted; it has its own set of lights; it's separated by a lane of parking—it is an ideal bike lane. Just nothing is enforced.
I ride 10+ miles every day to and from work, and every day I face at least one situation with careless or aggressive [drivers] that could get me killed if I'm not paying attention. And I consider myself a very respectful and alert biker that stops at lights and obeys traffic laws. A few months ago the police had set up a checkpoint at the bottom of the bridge for bikers. They gave me a summons for not having a bell. The priorities are not aligned with the problem.
Tagged
bike lane
bike path
car in bike lane
dot
kent avenue
nypd
truck driver
vision zero
williamsburg
original
Nathan Tempey
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Forest Hills Stadium can keep its concerts under deal with neighbors
Neighbors had complained of traffic and loud concerts for years.
By
Ryan Kost
Published Oct 22, 2026 at 2:49 p.m. ET
NYC Council to grill Mamdani officials on collapsed Hunts Point Produce Market deal
Council Speaker Julie Menin called the $650 million plan "mission critical."
By
Elizabeth Kim
News
NYC Council to grill Mamdani officials on collapsed Hunts Point Produce Market deal
Council Speaker Julie Menin called the $650 million plan "mission critical."
By
Elizabeth Kim
NYPD arrests 17-year-old in fatal Midtown subway platform shooting
By
Charles Lane
Ex-Adams aide accused of pocketing kickbacks from community program funds
By
Samantha Max
MTA to begin 6-year project to upgrade signal tech on A and C lines in Brooklyn and Queens
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
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 .