First New Bridge to Manhattan in Decades Proposed Just for Pedestrians and People on Bikes

Winnie Hu reports on a newly revealed proposal to "build the first new bridge to Manhattan in decades — one just for cyclists and pedestrians."

"The car-free bridge would connect Midtown Manhattan to Long Island City in Queens, near the site that Amazon had planned to build a headquarters before pulling out under intense community opposition," according to Hu.

"The car-free bridge would connect Midtown Manhattan to Long Island City in Queens, near the site that Amazon had planned to build a headquarters before pulling out under intense community opposition."

The proposal is still highly speculative, and would require local and state approvals and a heft investment during a period of deep fiscal austerity that is already threatening to delay other major capital investment projects in the city. 

The proposal emerges just a few days after it was revealed that city officials are negotiating a plan to allow bikes a lane previously devoted to automobile travel on the Brooklyn Bridge, and as the city reopens parts of its economy without overnight subway service and low transit ridership numbers across the board, and the traffic conditions one might expect given those realities. The city has also put a groundbreaking congestion pricing scheme, charging cars for entering parts of Manhattan, on hold during the pandemic. The Regional Plan Association also recently revealed a Five Borough Bike Plan to help the city deal with congestion during and after the new normal of the pandemic.

The source article also includes a rendering of the proposed Queens Ribbon Bridge.