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NYC plan to create bike lanes along busy Queens corridor is ‘recipe for disaster:’ critics

July 5, 2025
in News
NYC plan to create bike lanes along busy Queens corridor is ‘recipe for disaster:’ critics
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Queens residents and business owners are fighting a city plan to plop bike lanes onto 31st Street in Astoria, calling it a “recipe for disaster” that will crush commerce and threaten safety. 

The city Department of Transportation is proposing to narrow parking lanes from 13 to 8 feet and traffic lanes from 14 feet to 11, and move the parking lanes away from the curb, to make way for bike paths between 36th and Newton avenues.

While the proposal has the full-throated support of car-hating, socialist lawmakers like Councilwoman Tiffany Cabán, Assemblywoman Jessica González-Rojas and state Sen. Kristen Gonzalez, merchants told The Post the blueprint would make it nearly impossible for trucks to reach businesses.

Panos Adamopoulos and wife Sylvia Fuster inside their business Pilates Designs by Sylvia on 31st. St. in Astoria, Queens
Pilates Designs, a pilates equipment manufacturer on 31st Street since 1984, would be forced to shutter its doors if the plan goes through, said Panos Adamopoulos, who owns the business with his wife Sylvia Fuster. Helayne Seidman

“We’ll be forced to shut down because we will not be able to load and unload the materials and products,” said Panos Adamopoulos, who owns Pilates Designs, a pilates equipment manufacturer on 31st Street since 1984, with his wife Sylvia Fuster.

“It’s asphyxiation,” he said, adding that his 16 employees’ jobs are on the line. 

Even if a driver finds a parking space – not easy with steel columns of the overhead N/W subway line in the way — they’d have to cross an eight-foot bike lane and a three-foot buffer zone to get to the sidewalk. 

King Souvlaki, a food truck operating at 31st Street and 31st Avenue since 1979, would be forced to hit the road. 

“There would be no other space on that intersection for us,” said owner Lampros Tsampas. 

“Some people have said, ‘You can just park in the floating parking area and serve into the bike lane,’ but that’s not safe at all,” he said.

Illustrated rendering for proposed bike lanes along 31st Street in Astoria compared to the current layout of the corridor.
The DOT is proposing to narrow parking lanes and traffic lanes, move the parking lanes away from the curb and add bike paths on 31st Street between 36th and Newton avenues. DOT

The DOT said the redesign aims to improve safety, as 126 vehicle occupants, 33 pedestrians and 24 bikers were injured — and two vehicle occupants killed — along the mile-long stretch between 2020 and 2024 — making it “one of the most dangerous streets in Queens,” according to a department spokesperson.

Astoria native Joseph Mirabella said the new road configuration would be a nightmare for his 90-year-old amputee grandmother. 

“Getting her in and out of the car and her wheelchair and having her cross these bike lanes is a huge safety concern,” said Mirabella, 25.  “The DOT is calling this a safety and accessibility improvement plan – and that’s preposterous.”

Lampros Tsampas at King Souvlaki food truck in Astoria, Queens
The redesign would force out King Souvlaki, a food truck operating on 31st Street since 1979, said owner Lampros Tsampas Helayne Seidman

The proposed bicycle lanes would also interfere with the current pick-up and drop-off zones for pre-school- to high school-aged students enrolled in St. Demetrios School near 31st Street and 30th Avenue. 

The school was among 50 businesses and institutions that signed onto a June 3 letter to DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodríguez begging him to reconsider the scheme — which could be implemented as soon as this summer.

“Multiple instances of children being struck by heedless bicycle traffic have been documented across the city . . . until this problem is adequately addressed citywide, we cannot be expected to absorb the consequences,” reads one section of the seven-page letter. 

DOT rendering of proposed bike lanes on 31st Street in Astoria, Queens
Astoria residents decried the new road configuration as a “recipe for disaster.”  DOT

As of Friday, more than 4,200 people have signed onto a Change.org petition against the proposal – which also cited increased traffic congestion, pollution and delayed 911 responses as concerns. 

The roadway is an “industrial conduit” that connects the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge to the 59th Street Bridge to the Midtown tunnel, noted Nancy Esposito, whose family owns Brothers Supply Corp., an HVAC company on 35th Avenue and 31st Street. 

“This would have an unbelievable ripple effect,” said Esposito. “We’re very, very concerned for the safety of our community and the wellbeing of our companies because of this plan.”

A DOT spokesperson said that redesigns like this one “successfully improve safety and support local businesses while keeping traffic moving.” The department has met with dozens of business owners on 31st Street “to adjust our proposal based on their feedback,” they added.

The post NYC plan to create bike lanes along busy Queens corridor is ‘recipe for disaster:’ critics appeared first on New York Post.

Tags: astoriadepartment of transportationpedestrian safetypublic safetyQueenssmall businesstraffic
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