Mayor Zohran Mamdani stood with city Department of Transportation (DOT) officials on Tuesday as agency workers eliminated a slight roadway dip that had plagued cyclists exiting the Williamsburg Bridge into Manhattan for years — throwing the final shovel of asphalt to finish the job.
Mamdani, who has made a slew of transportation-related announcements since taking the oath of office inside the old City Hall subway station last week, said his DOT moved quickly to make the hazardous drop or “bump” into a smooth ramp in response to feedback from “countless New Yorkers.”
“I’ve seen many, many videos and many tweets, and also heard from many New Yorkers, as well as experienced this myself,” said Hizzoner, who himself is a cyclist.
The sudden drop is positioned between two concrete barriers that cyclists must traverse when going west off the bridge onto Delancey Street. It added yet another hazard for cyclists coming off the downward slope of the bridge, forcing them to ride single-file between the two concrete blocks.
The bump was already due to be eliminated as part of a broader plan $70 million plan to redesign Delancey Street, including its protected bike lanes and the bridge entrance, unveiled in 2023. However, that plan remains more than four years away from completion, according to DOT spokesperson Vin Barone.
Tuesday’s repair represents a “quick fix” before DOT gets started on the project this fall, Barone said.
The mayor said the drop is one of many “obstacles” that those who reached out to his team groused about.
“They are 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,” Mamdani said. “I am so thankful to the incredible men and women of New York City DOT, to our new commissioner for ensuring that we are taking action on the issues that animate New Yorkers. Concerns at a large level and at a small level.”
While DOT is still pursuing the broader redesign, Mamdani said his team saw eliminating the dubious Delancey Street drop as something they could tackle immediately.
“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,” he said.
The Williamsburg Bridge has the highest bike ridership of any crossing in the city, according to DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn, who stood with Mamdani at the announcement. An average of 8,600 cyclists use the bridge each day, he said.
“This is proof that government can deliver and just the beginning,” Flynn said. “Both the mayor and I have talked about our ambition to have bold ideas and to make our streets the envy of the world. And that takes big ideas, but it also takes small fixes.”
Bike enthusiasts commended Mamdani for directing his DOT to make the fix and for showing up in person to oversee it.
“It’s great to have the mayor, you know, physically fixing issues in the bike network like that,” said Jon Orcutt, director of advocacy at Bike Nw York.
Orcutt believes that the new mayor’s approach to transportation greatly differs from that of his predecessor, Eric Adams.
“Someone who knows the city and experiences the city from the saddle on a bike is gold, it’s very hard to explain what it’s like to somebody who hasn’t been out there,” Orcutt said. “The worst thing about Mayor Adams, from our point of view, was he actually does ride around the city, or did, and it did not show in the way he governed at all.”
