If you’ve ever biked off the Williamsburg Bridge and thought, “ah yes, time for my daily jump scare,” you’re definitely not alone. That infamous little drop at the Delancey Street landing–beloved by adrenaline junkies, loathed by everyone who prefers their commute without catching air–has officially met its match.
In his first full week on the job, on Tuesday, January 6, NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani quite literally rolled up his sleeves. Shovel in hand, he joined NYC Department of Transportation workers to smooth out the notorious Williamsburg Bridge bike lane bump on Delancey Street, right at the Manhattan end of the bridge.
For years, the 43-inch-wide pit has been an unwelcome obstacle for cyclists, forcing riders to either slam on the brakes or risk going airborne before a hard landing on Delancey Street. After patting down fresh gravel himself, Mamdani explained the motivation behind the fix:
They’re tired of biking across this bridge with anxiety as to what will happen right at the end of it. They’re tired of the drop beneath their feet.
The removal of the bump is a big win for the roughly 8,600 cyclists who use the bridge each day. DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn noted that the Williamsburg Bridge sees the highest bike ridership of any crossing in the city.
Of course, in true New Yorker fashion, not everyone is thrilled. Marcus Hogan of Bushwick told Gothamist, “I love it. I think it’s great fun—I’m a big fan of the bump. You get some pretty nasty air either coming in and going out. That’s pretty fun.”
Still, tackling the bump is just one example of Mamdani’s hands-on, do-it-all approach to governing. In these early days, he says, the focus is on “tackling low-hanging fruit.” He said:
This is not going to be the extent of the work that we do, but when we were having conversations about what these first few days of the administration could look like, we realized that, in fact, this is something that need not wait for us to have the additional conversations about larger streetscape changes right here and across the city. This is something that we can do immediately.
How long the fix will last remains to be seen.
According to DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn, Delancey Street is slated for a $70 million renovation that will add more pedestrian space and create a more “rational bike route,” including a connection down to the Bowery, Gothamist reports.
The bump was already set to be eliminated as part of a broader $18 million Delancey Street redesign unveiled in 2023–but with that project still more than four years away from completion, cyclists weren’t exactly holding their breath.