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MTA adds new bike lanes to Triborough Bridge
By
Stephen Nessen
Published May 12, 2025
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Stephen Nessen
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Stephen Nessen
Published May 12, 2025
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The MTA is getting into the biking business.
Transit officials on Monday unveiled a set of fully accessible cyclist and pedestrian paths on the stretches of the Triborough Bridge that connect Randall’s Island to the Bronx and East Harlem. Those paths were previously only designed for pedestrians and hard to use for cyclists.
The new path makes the 89-year-old bridge, which was created by car-loving power broker Robert Moses, friendly for cyclists for the first time ever. New ramps on Randalls Island and the Bronx replace old access points that required bikers to navigate tight turns to use the crossing.
MTA officials said they plan to overhaul the path between Randalls Island and Queens by 2027. The agency also built a new ramp that will connect the bike lane to the East River Greenway in East Harlem once the city completes a planned renovation of the dilapidated path.
“ For the first time ever, pedestrians and cyclists have a continuous car-free path between Manhattan, the Bronx and Randall's Island, with Queens to follow shortly,” said MTA construction chief Jamie Torres-Springer.
The Triborough project is part of a $128 million effort by the MTA to make its bridges more accessible for non-drivers. The agency completed a new bike and pedestrian connection on the Henry Hudson and Cross Bay bridges last year.
MTA Chair Janno Lieber showed everyone his knees during a press conference unveiling the new bike path on the Triborough Bridge.
Trent Reeves / MTA
Torres-Springer said the MTA is looking into adding a bike lane to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge next.
“ It's not feasible today, but what we're doing is we have to replace the whole lower span of the Verrazano Bridge over the next decade or so, and we're doing a feasibility study of whether it's possible to include bike access as part of that,” Torres-Springer said.
MTA Chair Janno Lieber, who celebrated Monday’s opening of the new paths by donning skin-tight spandex biking shorts, said cycling infrastructure is an essential part of the city’s transportation network.
“ Far from being a threat to mass transit, the trend gives the MTA an opportunity to extend the transit system's reach deeper into communities that have less fixed rail service, or a little further away from a train station, especially the outer reaches,” Lieber said. “ If you can walk, if you can bike, if you can scooter the last mile rather than having to drive a an automobile and park, that is huge.”
Tagged
new york city
manhattan
bronx
queens
transportation
Stephen Nessen
Stephen Nessen covers transportation. Since 2008 he has reported on everything from Occupy Wall Street, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, Hurricane Sandy, to Trump’s campaign for president. His transportation reporting has taken him everywhere from the MTA’s secret Rail Control Center to the gleaming subways of Seoul. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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