We New Yorkers have been calling for an easy subway connection between Queens and Brooklyn for as long as we can remember, and while the Interborough Express has been proposed to solve this issue it’s still many years out from reaching fruition. In the meantime, we do have one pathway en route to connect Queens and Brooklyn, though this one is for two wheel vehicles rather than four.
Dubbed the Blissville Greenway, the proposal calls to build a network of protected bike lanes that will connect increasingly residential neighborhoods on both sides of the Newtown Creek which currently separates Queens and north Brooklyn.
The NYC DOT first presented its plan to Queens Community Board 2 this past May. The project will be divided into three phases, the first of which has a target start date of this year and will focus on the following:
- Review Avenue, Greenpoint to Laurel Hill Blvd – two-way protected bike lane
- Starr Ave & Review Ave, Borden Ave to Van Dam St – standard bike lane
- Van Dam St & Greenpoint Ave, Starr Ave to Review Ave – protected bike lane
Phase two, has a target start date of next year, will focus on Borden Avenue from Center Street in Long Island City to Review Avenue, connecting the Queens waterfront to points east. Phase three, which currently has no target start date, will focus on unspecified improvements on 56th Road and Rust Street.
At some point during the project the six-way intersection on the Queens side of the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge will also receive renovations including a crosswalk, curb extensions, and bike lanes that continue through the intersection.
The Blissville Greenway is nothing new–residents of the area began calling for it in 2017, though the project really gained momentum after the Kosciuszko Bridge pedestrian and bike path opened. Thomas Mituzas, leader of the Blissville Civic Association, stated:
After the creation of the Kosciuszko Bridge pedestrian and bikeway, all of a sudden, we saw tons of people jogging, walking, and biking down Review Avenue, and we were at first like, ‘What’s going on?’ and then we realized the walkway was leading people here, when they landed on the Queens side, they just followed the cemetery to the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge.
An injury summary released by the NYC DOT shows a total of 178 injuries from 2019 to 2023 between pedestrians, bicyclists, and motor vehicle occupants, placing this corridor in the top 33% most dangerous in Queens. Mituzas added that he’s “looking for some traffic-calming measures so we can cross the street safely.”
The DOT will conduct outreach to local businesses before finalizing its designs. In the meantime, this isn’t the only bike lane on its way to the city–a 32-mile-long cycling and pedestrian path is also heading to NYC!