WTC questionnaire staff distribution notice, October 2004

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

/

Boro cyclists hit streets in alternative commute ’ a graphic designer at the Daily News, the only By Dustin Brown way to go is Queens Boulevard, the notorious­ Some say they’re crazy, and perhaps they ly dangerous thoroughfare that cuts through are. the center of the borough. They brave fierce winds and blazing sun, “I wish I could have another safer direct heavy rains and sometimes even snow as they way, but thafs the only road,” she said as she trek across the Queensboro Bridge. stepped off her bike to enjoy the breakfast But the hundreds of Queens commuters spread. “Ifs not as bad as people make it out to who reach Manhattan by bicycle every day be. I think it’s more dangerous for pedestrians have their own notion of what counts as crazy, and cars.” and you can bet they won’t trade then- Not everyone shares her bravado, howev­ windswept hair, and muddied wheels for the er. cramped subwa^^ car anytime soon. “If you share a road with an auto, there’s “^t’s amazing because for me, it’s exciting always a chance,” said Todd Gwinn, 42, a watching the city” said Mireya Garcia, 33, a librarian at Mid-Manhattan Library who housekeeper from Astoria who bikes to the commutes fi-om Sunnyside on a folding hicy- Upper Ea^ Side and then downtown. “It’s so de, which he can take inside after riding. “I beautiful, and it saves money fi-om my just have to live with that Thafs the price for tokens.” riding a bicycle” Transportation Alternatives, a citywide But the city also is planning numerous bicycle advocacy group, estimates that improvements to the borough’s bicyde infi-a- between 150 and 200 commuters cross the structure, starting at Queens Plaza , itself Queensboro Bridge into Manhattan between 7 where the Department of City Planning’s pro­ a.m. and 10 a.m., said the organization’s pro- • posed redesign calls for a bike path to run ject director, Noah Budnick About 13,000 of from the Queens Boulevard Bridge to the the city’s 105,000 daily cyclists ride in Queens, Queensboro Bridge The lane would cirde whether they are commuting, playing, deliv­ around a proposed seating area where the ering food or going shopping. JFK Commuter Triangle now sSs, and then The borough’s bike commuters were travel the length of Queens Plaza North inside treated to a special pit stop Friday morning as a. planted median, interrupted by a cross they approached the Queensboro Bridge, street only once where representatives of Transportation Another major project, the North Queens Alternatives and the Queens borough presi­ Greenway, is a propos^ bike path ruiming dent’s ofifice handed out bagels, juice and bicy­ along the perimeter of the borough’s shore­ cle maps as part of Bike Week 2002, which line from the Pulaski Bridge in Long Island ended Sunday City to LaGuardia Airport, where it would The borough’s 84 miles of bike paths and connect vyithlhe^Jushing Promenade. on-street bike routes ranks it second in the “Puttings hike path along the water cre­ city in the length of its bike network, behind ate a very efficient and popular commuter only Brooklyn at 92 miles and ahead of route,” Budnick said. “So based on what Manhattan, which has 79 miles. we’ve seen on the Hudson River Greenway, Although the borough is so large its it’s a great way to encourage people to ride to established bike network often goes uimoticed work and to ride for shopping and for recre­ — even by avid bicyclists — the paths have a ation in general, because it’s a safe place, ifs practical purpose beyond recreational rides off the street and ifs fast.” because they are well-coimected with one The borough already has greenways, or another; Budnick said. off-street paths, along the Flushing “It really mtegiates bicycles as part of Promenade, Little Neck Park and the former the transportationi network in the city,” Vanderbilt Motor Parkway. Budnick said. New bike lanes are expected to open by Queens also offers other advantages for June in BeUerose and in Queens Village cydists, such as a varied network of side along Winchester Boulevard between Union streets. Turnpike and Braddock Avenue, and from “Ifs better because there’s a lot less traf­ there along 222nd Street to 100th Avenue. fic,” said Douglas Arevalo, ’29, a bike messen­ gerfrom Jackson Heights. “You have a bigger Reach reporter Dustin Brown by e-rnail at choice of streets to take. You don’t have the Timesledger@aoLcom or call 229-0300, Ext. traffic volume you have in Manhattan.” 154. But for Enid Rivera, 42, who treks from Jamaica to Manhattan every day for herjob as TiTDes LCOfQCr 5-a3-oa NYC-WTC_000164633