bikenh

I'm looking for bridges I can legally ride across, not where I have to take a ferry or hop a ride in a car with someone.

I know George Washington Bridge can be used to get into NYC from NJ.

Is there a legal way to ride onto Staten Island. It appears looking at rwgps that I could possibly use Bayonne Bridge...is this correct or not? I know when I use the satellite imagery it looks like that would be highly questionable whether they would allow bikes on it or not though, hence why I'm asking.

Are Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, Williamsburg Bridge, Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges the only legal bridges to get from downtown out toward Long Island?

dendawg

Re the Bayonne bridge
Pedestrian & Bicycle Information - Bayonne Bridge - The Port Authority of NY & NJ

In addition to the city bridges from Manhattan to LI you listed there is also a path on the RFK (Triborough) bridge

Steve B.

Once into Brooklyn, the Marine Parkway bridge has a pedestrian path. This bridge get you onto the Rockaways. The signs say that bikes must be walked across but as it's a long mile, nobody walks and everybody rides across here. I've never seen the TBTA cops enforce the rule either.

And outside of the Ed Koch, RFK, Williamsburg, Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges there are NO OTHER bridges from Manhattan to Brooklyn and Queens and all have bike lanes.

Papa Tom

Transportation Alternatives has a site with lots of bridge info for the five boros. Here it is:

Transportation Alternatives | Fiboro Bridges

zacster

One of the rides I do when I don't have time for a 50+ miler is the 4 bridges ride, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg, and Queensboro. It also includes the Pulaski bridge between Queens and Brooklyn, but that one is short. The new Goethals, Kosciusko, and Tappan Zee bridges will all have bike lanes too, but they are a few years away.

One bridge to ride, but slowly, is the Highbridge from Manhattan to the Bronx. This carried the aqueduct from the upstate water supply. The other Harlem River bridges also have bike/pedestrian lanes, but they are not very long, nor particularly nice. Cross Bay Blvd from mainland Queens to Rockaway is another nice ride, going across Broad Channel, and then return via Marine Parkway Bridge. There are lots of bridges to cross.

wilfried

Just to point out, since you asked about legality, it is technically illegal to ride on the walkways of some bridges; there are signs telling you you're supposed to walk your bike. These include the Triboro and Henry Hudson Bridges in Manhattan, and the bridges to the Rockaways. These bridges are controlled by the MTA rather than the DOT. Cyclists roundly ignore these rules, and they're practically speaking unenforced and near unenforceable (how exactly is a cop in a cruiser supposed to chase down a bike on the walkway?), but them's the rules, with potential fines as a penalty.

(As an aside, the NYPD, when it decides to go on one of its bike blitzes, has been know to ticket bike riders for riding where it's perfectly legal to ride. This happened on the Willis Ave. Bridge a year or two ago.)

bikenh

Of the 'bigger' bridges which are sidewalk/walkways versus which are bike lanes/shoulders? Sidewalk is sidewalk for both bike and pedestrians while bike lanes are for bikers only and on the main deck with cars, between the guardrails.

I'll do the quick edit as well to clarify what I think I understand from what dendawg said. Right now at the present time/until the bridge work is finished you can't ride a bike onto Staten Island. Or am I misinterpreting what I'm seeing on the website.

____

Staten Island cannot be ridden onto, directly, until work raising the span of the Bayonne Bridge is complete. It has not yet been possible, reguarly, to ride to any of the other boroughs of New York.


There is the ferry from Manhattan, and a bicycle-friendly bus from Brooklyn.

zacster

The Goethals Bridge will also allow bikes across it for the first time, so there will be two crossings to SI. And if the VNB gets updated, maybe that as well.

indyfabz

I believe that is correct. And the new Goethels is likely more than a "few" years away. I believe they are still working on rebuilding the Travis Branch bridge of the Staten Island RR, which work is needed to accommodate the wider lanes and space that will be reserved for possible future public transit. That started years ago. My employer owns property on the NJ sided of the Arthur Kill. The PANYNJ needs property interests from us for the footings for the new Goethels Bridge and has not even started the process of obtaining those interests. As for the Brooklyn Bridge, there is a combined ped/bikeway above the car lanes. One side is supposed to be bi-directional for bikes and the other side for pedestrians. It's common for pedestrians to encroach on the bike side. I ride the bridge every year as part of a club ride from New Hope, PA to Brooklyn. During the 2015 ride I nearly got whacked in the face when a couple stuck a selfie stick out over the bike side. The ride is on the Sunday before Labor Day. I think the bridge is more crowded with tourists that weekend, but be careful if you ride it. I recently watched a video a guy took capturing all pedestrians in the bike lane. Maybe you can find it on YouTube.

zacster

The Goethals Bridge work is well under way. I've seen the work myself. They wouldn't start without all property being obtained. Goethals Bridge Replacement Construction & About - The Port Authority of NY & NJ Late 2018 is the completion date, projected of course. The being the PANYNJ it could take forever.

Cyclerock

Before the Bayonne Bridge was getting worked on, I biked over it a few times on route to going over the GWB and onto NYC. I did a few routes, depending on where I started.

Dahon.Steve

The Bayonne bridge is closed. However, during rush hour, the S89 can be caught at the 22nd street Hudson Bergen Light Rail station in Bayonne New Jersey. That bus is going to Staten Island (rush hour only) and if you have a folding bike, you'll have no problem. Unfortunately, there are no bike racks on the S89. Go to the MTA site and look at the route and time schedule for the S89.

I was told the S53 that goes from Staten Island to Brooklyn has a bike rack. If not, you'll need a folding bike to board that bus. I've taken my folder on that bus a number of times and it's great because they come frequent.

You can also cross the two bridges on US 1-9 truck since a pedestrian bike path was constructed. I've done that a number of times during the weekend.

Papa Tom

I believe a lot of the questions asked here can be answered at the link I posted early in this thread. When the page for a specific bridge does not have up-to-the-minute information, there is usually a link for more info.

Transportation Alternatives | Fiboro Bridges

Dahon.Steve

I was also thinking if you have a folding bike, restricted bridges can be crossed by taking a cab. During the summer months, the Port Authority has a shuttle bus that runs from Bayonne to Staten Island.

wilfried

Up to the minute? It doesn't look like it's been updated since 2007. Many of the links are dead. It would be a great resource, but it doesn't tell you that the Bayonne Bridge is closed to cyclists and pedestrians, the last news about the Goethels was from 2007, that buses over the Verrazano now have bike racks, and there's a report from 2007 that bikes are being diverted to the north walkway on the GW. A site like this could be very useful.

indyfabz

Unless they have changed the plans and no longer need property interests from us, I can guarantee you they haven't gotten what they originally said they needed from us. I would know since the matter would come across my desk. Maybe I will email the Port Authority's lawyer(s) for an update.

bikenh

Funny thing is I did ride across both of the bridges on my trip this past summer. Granted it was right after, still questionably given the rerouting of Doremis onto US1/9, the ???illegal??? ride on US1/9 right by the airport. I never saw any signs saying Bike Prohibited before getting up to the airport, coming up front Trenton after having to get off earlier due to the signs posted back around Elizabeth(if I remember right) so I stuck to the four lane as I had most of the way up from Trenton. Ended up getting a flat right where the Skyway??? Bridge turnoff is at and changed the flat there in the closed down lanes before continuing on to cross both bridges. Now I see where Doremis would have brought me out and the entire side road option and understand the make up of the area much better. While on the trip I was thinking Doremis was the road name for the bridge to get me on over to the Truck Route after crossing both bridges. It sure does make a difference when you go back and take another look at the route once you have ridden through a stretch and have gotten to know an area a bit better.

Just curious if anyone knows the rules in a case like that. If the side road(Doremis) that is supposed to used by cyclists is closed and the reroute is on a Bike Prohibited stretch like US1/9 by Newark airport and their is no other way, then does that make US1/9 legal to ride...it should. Like I said I saw no signs saying it was illegal so I kept riding, swearing it had to be illegal. I had a plane coming in for a landing as I was in front of the airport looking at the NYC skyline. I was saying "I'M NOT GOING INTO NYC" I guess you could say a health fear since everytime I look between my house and NYC on the map I always see the same six letters pop up and the only thing I've ever known from those four letters is...what goes in doesn't come back out...at least not alive. HARLEM. Okay, I'm probably paranoid...but I'm still alive

Papa Tom

My bad.

Ferdinand NYC

I had to read that twice to make sure I was seeing it right. You are saying that you are afraid of Harlem? Unbelievable. That is as ill-informed as it is offensive. Honestly, there is no way to overlook the racist implications of that comment.

In fact Harlem is booming. (My favourite book store just moved to Lenox Avenue. This is a typical story.) It is a good area to ride in, with bike lanes going north-south (St. Nicholas Avenue) and east-west (119th and 120th Streets). And then there's Riverside Drive, as well as the Hudson River and the Harlem River Greenways.

East Harlem has a couple of major bike lanes in First and Second Avenues, and has convenient bridge connections to that gorgeous park wonderland known as Randall's Island (via the Triborough Bridge) and also to highly bikable areas of the Bronx (via the Willis Avenue, Third Avenue, and Madison Avenue Bridges).

If you live in North Jersey and are avoiding New York City, then you are just spiting yourself. You need to stop listening to whatever racists you have been listening to, and come across the George Washington Bridge into the place that Bicycling magazine rightfully called the no. 1 bicycling city in the U.S.

Jarrettsin

100% ^^^ what he said

wilfried

No bad. I was just excited to see the site, and then disappointed to see that it's no longer useful. Such a site could be really useful, but I can also see that it would be a lot of work to keep up to date.

wilfried

Tonight, after work, as I do most Wed. nights, I will ride all the way up to Inwood, through, yes, Harlem, and Washington Heights. Later, at around 10 or 11pm, I will come back down through those neighborhoods. At this time of year, it's totally dark by the time I leave at 6pm. I've done this trip regularly for a few years now, no one has ever given me a lick of trouble, or even particularly noticed I was there, and I never gave it second thought. There are hardly any unsafe neighborhoods anymore, and there's virtually nowhere I'd be afraid to ride (for fear of crime at any rate; I worry about traffic). I've been through Harlem, the South Bronx, East New York, and any number of other "sketchy" neighborhoods, and no one has ever said boo to me, or given me a second glance. They're just neighborhoods, with people in them.

I might not be as quick to label your reaction to HARLEM racism, but yeah, that was my thought to (those "six letters" in ALL CAPS is telling). At the very least your worldview is stuck in a bygone era, or it's so narrow that you've let yourself be blinkered, and limited, by fear.

bikenh

I have heard things have changed around NYC in the past 5-10 years. From what I always heard back in the 80-90s you stayed the heck out of Harlem unless you only wanted to come out by way of a body bag...if you were black than that's a different story. If you're white you avoided Harlem at all costs. I'm still programmed that way. The comment wasn't meant in any kind of a racist way. Harlem was the spot you always heard to avoid around NYC.

Actually I live up in New England and was heading home when I got that close this summer. I've only driven 'through'/around NYC three times. One going onto Long Island and the other two were Saturday mornings at 3AM to avoid the darn traffic heading down to central NJ.

Actually I think for me it's the 'getting lost' factor of NYC. Not literal getting lost, as I always seem to be able to find my way around even when I do get lost. Rather it's getting lost in the big city mentality. I still remember the first bike trip back in 2012. I got into Hagarstown, MD not knowing a fatal car accident had occurred on I-81 up by the PA/MD line and they had the interstate shutdown and the traffic was going right through Hagarstown. I got caught in the rush hour traffic made much worse by the closure of the interstate. I found myself at one point sitting behind a semi with a gap behind him before the next car. The guy in the car honked at me. I was over on the shoulder. I didn't look at the first honk since I knew I didn't know anyone around the area. When the guy honked again, I looked over at him and he was pointing. I instantly started screaming to myself, "I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS!" LMAO I took off and rode in between the car and semi and started riding up between the two lanes of northbound cars stuck in traffic, just like the darn NYC bike courier you see the videos of all the time. I could only imagine if I got myself caught up in NYC traffic. I know I would do it and probably end up getting hit as a result. LOL...especially if I was on my fixie that I ride all the time up here in NH.

I've been mapping out a truly massive ride concept, roughly 85-100K miles long that would end on Long Island since it is so well isolated in true respects. Hence why I'm doing a bit of research. Granted the actual mapping I'm up to right now is still at the WI/MN state line but I knew I needed to find the areas where I couldn't get to by physically riding a bicycle, like Staten Island, err...Richmond County. Pretty much an idea to ride the whole US, ever county in the lower 48 that you can get to by riding a bicycle, not taking a ferry/seaplane/car to get you there. There are 4 counties in the lower 48, at the present time, you can't ride a bike to.

Gee, I thought, according the what I saw this past summer on my bike trip, Sparta, WI was the bicycle capital of America. Still don't know why though. Ben Biking must have been biking a little too long, LOL

bikenh

I'm totally speechless. I wouldn't want to ride around any big city after dark, yet alone NYC. Like I said in the above post I've heard several people talk about NYC has cleaned itself up. I am totally speechless.

I fess I did ride a few spots on this summers bike trip I still can't believe I ever talked myself into riding into like Boston. I've only once driven around Boston and that was before I moved from Ohio to New Hampshire. Ever since moving up here I had the attitude to keep me away from anything south and east of Concord, NH all the way to Long Island Sound and the Atlantic. I held up to that other than one trip down to Rhode Island, staying away from Boston, while driving, but since I gave up driving and took up biking full time I've been to the NH seacoast several times and actually went right up the capitol building in Boston this summer just shaking my head in total disbelief that I would ever do anything that crazy. I did learn about proper routing that day. I screwed up big time by choosing the wrong entrance(enter from the left not the right) to get back onto US1. Hopefully I never make that stupid of mistake again.

I fess earlier in the trip I did skip out on Atlanta mostly because I was going to be hitting it on July 4th and wanted nothing to do with being around any big city on the holiday.