This archive report was first published on 22 November 2019.
Biking Over the Hudson: Why It's Not Easier ¶
As an urban planner in Manhattan, Mitchel Loring often finds himself wondering why there's no direct route to pedal across the Hudson River to Jersey City. The George Washington Bridge, built in 1931, is Manhattan's only West Side river crossing built with bicyclists and pedestrians in mind.
According to Samuel I. Schwartz, a transportation engineer who once worked as the city's traffic commissioner, there was talk of building bridges between Manhattan and New Jersey as early as the 1880s. The George Washington Bridge was proposed near West 57th Street in the 1920s, but officials opted instead for a span connecting Upper Manhattan and Fort Lee, N.J.
Years later, in 2012, Mr. Schwartz and his associates in the advocacy group MoveNY proposed three bridges for pedestrians and cyclists, one of which would connect Midtown Manhattan to either Hoboken or Jersey City. However, the concept of congestion pricing, which could have helped pay for the crossings, was a hard sell due to lack of unity among transit advocates.
Today, New York is on the cusp of implementing congestion pricing, and miles of new bike lanes have been built in the city. But still, there are no West Side bridges for pedestrians and bicyclists in the heart of Manhattan.
Published on November 22, 2019.
