Judge Orders Removal of Queens Bike Lane on One of NYC’s Most Dangerous Corridors

Editor's Note: This article originally stated the bike lane was on 31st Avenue. It is actually on 31st Street. The street name and image has been changed to show the correct street.

A Queens judge ruled against the city in a suit over a bike lane on 31st Street, saying that the Department of Transportation “violated proper procedures” in its installation of the protected lane.

As Ryan Kost explains in Gothamist, “The ruling is an unusual legal victory for plaintiffs in the decades-long fight between local businesses and the steady expansion of bike lanes throughout New York City.”

DOT says the project is part of its Vision Zero program, and that they identified the stretch of street in question as one of the borough’s most dangerous. Between 2019 and 2024, 190 people were injured and two died on the corridor. “But when work on a stretch of the bike lane began in August, a group of businesses and a local school sued the city, arguing the transportation department had rushed the redesign and ignored potential dangers for pedestrians — especially schoolchildren, the elderly and people with disabilities — who would have to cross a busy bike lane.”

The judge agreed with the plaintiffs that DOT didn’t comply with mandatory consultation and certification requirements, and did not adequately address the school’s concerns or FDNY’s assessment that the bike lane would make it harder for emergency responders to reach upper floors of buildings.