I Couldn't Cross This Bridge When I Came To It

This morning I rode to an appointment in the Bronx.  Although it's friendly to neither cyclists nor pedestrians, I take the Triborough/Robert F. Kennedy Bridge. 

The bridge is actually a system of three spans, all of which meet on Randall's Island.  One spur connects the island to Queens, where I live, and the other two link it to the Bronx and Manhattan.

Actually, when I say the bridges are connected, that's true for motorized vehicles.  If you're a cyclist or pedestrian, you have to find your way through a maze of poorly-marked streets and paths in various stages of construction, destruction, reconstruction and deconstruction. 

My appointment was in the southwestern part of the Bronx, not far from Yankee Stadium.  It's actually easier to take the Manhattan spur from Randall's Island and take the Willis Avenue Bridge in the Bronx, which lets cyclists and pedestrians off near Gerard Avenue, a north-south street that--almost surprisingly--has a bike lane. I may have been the only one who used it today.

Manhattan Spur of Robert F Kennedy Memorial Bridge (a.k.a. the Harlem River Lift Bridge)

Anyway, when I got to the Manhattan spur, the pedetrian/bike lane was blocked off.  I saw bulldozers and cranes; I don't know whether the path or the bridge itself is going to be worked on.  But the lot around the entrance to the walkway was all torn up.

I found no mention of this closure on the sites of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (which administers the bridge) or the city's Department of Transportation.  I wanted to photograph the site, but the area was swarming with cops, and there are signs on the bridge itself that say photography is forbidden. 

Fortunately, I didn't have to go very far to get to the Bronx spur.  I rode about the same distance as I would have had I pedaled up the Manhattan span.  However, the ramp off the spur is a maze of 90 degree angles (Imagine a spiral staircase without the stairs or the curves, and with all matter of human refuse.) and it lets cyclists off in a spot where trucks enter and exit factories, a Department of Sanitation garage and the expressway.  And the nearest intersection, at St. Ann's Avenue and the Bruckner Expressway, is a nightmare because all manner of vehicles turn from and in all directions, including some you didn't even think were possible.

In spite of everything, I was still early for my appointment.  Still, I wish that there'd been an announcement of the closure and that it, and the way to the pedestrian/bike paths, were more clearly marked on Randall's Island.

A New Randall's Island Bridge For Cyclists?

Today I took a ride to New Jersey, along the Palisades and through Jersey City, Bayonne and Staten Island. From the Island, I took the ferry to Manhattan and cycled up to the 59th Street Bridge, and home.

I've done this ride any number of times before.  However, along the way, I took a little detour on Randall's Island.  

Earlier this year, I'd read that the city planned to build a pedestrian/bicycle bridge from the Island to the Bronx.  Right now, it's possible to use the walkways on the Triborough (RFK) Bridge.  That's exactly what I did today. However, those walkways have their own perils for cyclists.

The Triborough is really three spans that lead into Randall's Island.  One such span, which is close to where I live, connects Queens with the Island.  This span is the most-photographed (for good reason) of the three, and many people think it is the Triborough.  Then there are spans from the Island to Manhattan (at 125th Street) and the Bronx.  

Actually, the Bronx spur is bookended by walkways on its east and west sides.  As those paths approach the Island, they zig and zag like Alpine slalom courses enclosed by concrete walls.  Then they converge at a single steep ramp that ends abruptly at a curve in the island's main road.

The bridge would eliminate those ramps (as well as the stairs one must ascend in order to access the walkway to and from Queens) and instead would be continuation of one spur of the island's mostly-complete bike path.

I am eager to see the bridge completed, not only for making a part of my ride more pleasant.   It is seen as a vital link between the paths and fields of Randall's Island and a greenway that's supposed to be built in the South Bronx. 

 Some residents of that neighborhood walk across the Triborough, but many more drive or take buses to play soccer, softball and other sports and games, have picnics and barbecues, or to fish, on the Island.  In addition to making a bike ride easier and more pleasant for folks like me, I would hope that the bridge would also entice some Bronx residents to walk or ride bikes to the Island.

The South Bronx part of Asthma Alley.  Actually, it's the buckle in New York's asthma belt: The neighborhood's 10451,10453, 10454, 10455 and 10474 ZIP codes have the highest juvenile asthma rates in the United States.  (They are also part of the nation's poorest Congressional District.) Obesity rates are also high in the area, as they are through much of the Bronx.  Ironically, even though much of the fresh produce sold in the NY Metro area goes to the Hunts Point Food Market (located in the heart of the South Bronx), most residents of the surrounding neighborhoods cannot buy fresh fruits or vegetables in their own communities.

Anyway, enough about subjects about which I don't know much (apart from having written an article about the asthma rates).  I am hoping that the new bridge's construction proceeds quickly but safely.  But I have to wonder whether that will happen after seeing the  sign on the left.

It says that Con Ed, the local utility, is removing duct work from underneath the scaffolding. I hope this doesn't delay construction!