The New York City Department of Transportation has announced the second phase of the 31st Avenue bike boulevard redesign in Astoria, Queens. The project will add a parking-protected, two-way bike lane from Steinway Street to 51st Street, extending the corridor from Vernon Boulevard toward Woodside and improving connections to the Queens Waterfront Greenway and East River.
The redesign will expand pedestrian space, shorten crossings, improve visibility at intersections, and reorganize traffic patterns to reduce speeding and cut-through traffic. The corridor is within a Vision Zero Priority Area, where seven pedestrians and two cyclists were severely injured and one cyclist was killed from 2021 to 2025.
Proposed Redesign of 31st Avenue, via NYC DOT.
NYC DOT also is also planning a circular traffic diverter at 31st Avenue and 43rd Street, new and updated signals along the first phase of the corridor, and curb regulation changes to add loading zones and support local businesses. The project will connect with existing and planned cycling infrastructure on Crescent Street, 51st Street, Northern Boulevard, Broadway, and 34th Avenue.
“Bike boulevards calm our streets, protect pedestrians and cyclists and make clear that public spaces belong to people, not just cars,” said Mayor Zohran Mamdani. “This next phase of improvements will help knit Astoria and Woodside together with safer, greener and more accessible streets for New Yorkers.”
Subscribe to YIMBY’s daily e-mail
Follow YIMBYgram for real-time photo updates
Like YIMBY on Facebook
Follow YIMBY’s Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews
They put up those plastic posts in my area, and they were all knocked down within a year. Likewise, low rubbery curbs used for islands were largely destroyed by the snow plows. The street people are not using common sense in their installations. The bike paths in my neighborhood are rarely used. Riders prefer to go on the sidewalks, endangering pedestrians.
So now cars move at a snail’s pace.