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Every major street safety project from Mayor Eric Adams’ Department of Transportation over the last year has proceeded in the shadow of the McGuinness Boulevard redesign debacle.
That project aimed to make the busy road in Greenpoint more hospitable to pedestrians and cyclists by taking a lane away from cars while installing bike lanes. But the DOT scaled back its original plans for the work after influential businesses in the neighborhood launched an aggressive campaign against the changes. The compromise prompted vocal dissatisfaction from both supporters and opponents.
Now, with much of the conflict over McGuinness in the past, a new fight is brewing over similar streets only a couple of miles away. Activists say the city is slow-walking planned street-safety improvements that would protect cyclists and pedestrians in an industrial area with heavy truck traffic.
More than a year ago, the city presented redesign plans for Grand Street, Metropolitan Avenue and Morgan Avenue in East Williamsburg and Bushwick. Much like McGuinness Boulevard, the roads are used by big-rig drivers working for manufacturing companies — and cyclists.
From 2016 through 2023 the three roadways had a total of 14 fatalities, and 54 people seriously injured, according to the transportation department.
DOT officials proposed converting Grand Street and Metropolitan Avenue into one-way streets, with protected bike lanes on both sides. Such a change would represent a major win for street safety advocates who have for years pushed for improvements in the area. And while DOT officials say they’re working on a traffic study, activists who participated in last year’s workshop want to make sure Adams doesn’t cancel the work altogether.
“We’re concerned that the city has essentially ghosted us,” Paul Kelterborn, of the neighborhood group Friends of Cooper Park, said. “And we’re worried that the city might just abandon this project.”
In an effort to turn up the heat, his group, along with several others including Bike New York, Cooper Park Houses and St. Nick’s Alliance, sent a letter to DOT officials this week urging the agency to keep the plan moving.
“We were promised a plan from DOT to address the poor road designs and unsafe conditions; after over a year there has been no progress and we are still waiting on a plan,” the letter notes.
Unlike other contentious street redesign projects in north Brooklyn, most people involved in this redesign seem to be in agreement about what is needed: protected bike lanes, daylit intersections, one-way streets, and dedicated loading zones for businesses.
“Parts of these streets are within the industrial business zone, there are manufacturing businesses working on them. And it’s really important that these folks be able to get vehicles and raw materials and finished product in and out of their businesses,” said Leah Archibald, the executive director of Evergreen, a development corporation that works with businesses in industrial north Brooklyn. “We and our businesses are really open to seeing what the options are and that includes potential for one-way traffic on the streets.”
Even the trucking industry is on board.
“When you look at what happened along McGuinness Boulevard, it was not a transparent process,” said Zach Miller, Director of Metro Region Operations for the Trucking Association of New York. “We want to avoid that moving forward.”
But all sides are still waiting on a proposal from the DOT.
“Unfortunately it is a little slow moving,” said local City Councilmember Jennifer Gutiérrez, who organized the workshop. “DOT has admitted that they’ve been short staffed.”
From her perspective, with businesses and advocates on the same page, the only thing that could derail their plans are the MTA’s bus routes, which must be accommodated. Three bus lines use those streets.
“NYC DOT was heartened by the positive community response to our concepts to improve safety along these corridors,” DOT spokesperson Anna Correa wrote in a statement. “We are assessing potential upgrades here as part of a larger neighborhood-wide traffic analysis and we are hopeful that we will be ready to present our findings later this year.”
Curious Commuter
Question from Lennart in Manhattan
One thing I keep wondering when I’m running on the Manhattan Bridge footpath is the sound of it. I understand that trains could never be completely silent, but why does it have to be this loud? Is there nothing that could soften the rumbling only a little bit?
Answer
The Manhattan Bridge certainly isn’t easy on the ears. And it’s especially bad for pedestrians who trudge over the path on the north side of the crossing, adjacent to subway tracks. People hoofing it may notice the span bounces and roars as trains on the B, D, N and Q lines rumble along. The noise makes the Manhattan Bridge far less hospitable for walkers than the Williamsburg Bridge, which also carries subway lines but has a pedestrian and cycling path above the tracks instead of next to them.
But the MTA says the bridge’s noise is in part a product of its design: it’s the steepest hill in New York City’s entire subway system.
“The noise may be associated with the propulsion effort needed to traverse the grade, coupled with normal wheel to rail interaction,” said MTA spokesperson Kayla Shults. She added that the MTA is implementing “noise reduction strategies,” like specially designed wheels and brakes on train cars and new rail joints that may make things quieter.
