A number of school officials, local parents and FDNY representatives rallied outside St. Demetrios Greek American School of Astoria Wednesday, Sept. 17, to protest against planned protected bike lanes along 31st Street, stating that the DOT proposal would threaten student safety and undermine first responders.
The DOT has proposed installing protected bike lanes along a mile-long stretch of 31st Street underneath the elevated N/W subway tracks in a bid to tackle what the agency describes as one of the most dangerous sections in Western Queens.
However, the plan has met fierce opposition from local residents and businesses, with the 31st Street Business Association filing a legal challenge against the plan. The New York State Supreme Court has since issued a temporary injunction preventing the DOT from installing the bike lanes before a show cause hearing on Sept. 22.
On Wednesday, FDNY representatives, school administrators and parents of students at St. Demetrios Greek — located at 30-03 30th Dr. — held a protest against the planned bike lanes, arguing that the DOT plan would have a negative impact of student safety and emergency response capacity.
The plan, which is a direct result of the Western Queens Street Safety Plan developed by local elected officials, aims to introduce protected bike lanes from 36th Avenue to Newtown Avenue.
The DOT proposal would reduce the width of 31st Street’s moving lanes and parking lanes by three feet and five feet, respectively, in order to make room for the eight-feet-wide protected bike lanes.
The DOT also plans to add painted pedestrian islands at intersections to shorten pedestrian crossing distances and prevent motorists from cutting corners. The plan additionally bans parking at corners to boost visibility.
The DOT proposal has ignited a fierce local debate since its inception, with more than 4,600 people signing an online petition opposing the plan and more than 3,700 signing a rival petition supporting the bike lanes.
Advocates say the proposal would significantly improve safety for cyclists along the mile-long stretch covered by the plan, citing two traffic fatalities and 11 serious injuries reported on the corridor between 2020 and 2024.
However, the 31st Street Business Association argues that the proposed bike lanes would negatively impact local businesses while creating new safety issues by installing bike lanes through loading and delivery zones along 31st Street. The association also argues that it is a “bad idea” to encourage cyclists to use 31st Street due to visibility problems created by the overhead tracks and has called for the lanes to be placed on 33rd Street, which sees less traffic and has no elevated subway tracks.
Parents and school administrators said at Wednesday’s rally that the planned bike lane route runs directly through the St. Demetrios’s drop off and pick up zones, creating significant safety hazards for children entering and leaving the school.
A number of parents said the plan would create a risk of a collision between a cyclist and a student, arguing that a number of motorized bikes will also be using the bike lanes if they are installed.
Chris Vanterpool, a parent of a student at St. Demetrios, said the proposal is “not a common sense place” for a protected bike lane. He said it would only be a matter of time before a student is injured in a collision with a cyclist along the bike lane.
“It shouldn’t take a child being injured or worse for someone to listen to what we’re saying,” Vanterpool said Wednesday. “DOT should have the foresight to know that someone’s going to get hurt when there are mopeds and electric scooters zooming down a lane next to our school.
“There are plenty of places for people to bike. We need a place for our children to be safe.”
School principal Vasilios Skordas also voiced his opposition to the plan and said he hopes the DOT can “come to a resolution that is in the best interests of our school community, our staff and our students.”
Gabriella Labouriau, a parent with children at St. Demetrios, said protected bike lanes installed along Crescent Street several years ago are “not safe,” causing several incidents between pedestrians and motorized bikes. She said she is worried about the potential impact of a bike lane outside St. Demetrios.
“We are very concerned about how this is going to work, with the lanes being right here in front of the school where parents are doing drop off and pick up,” Labouriau said Wednesday.
First responders also spoke at Wednesday’s event, stating that the planned bike lanes would inhibit emergency services from responding to incidents along 31st Street.
Michael Tracey, the vice president of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, which represents active and retired fire officers in New York City, described the plan as “ill-conceived” and called on the DOT to work with the local community.
“With this project, we would simply not be able to access to roofs of many of these buildings,” Tracey said. “To say nothing of the fire engines themselves being able to access hydrants.”
Previously a number of business owners had warned that they would be forced to close down if the protected bike lanes are installed.
For example, Panos Adamopoulos of Pilates Designs, LLC at 35-17 31st St. said the proposed bike lanes would force him to close down by making it more difficult to take deliveries and for customers to visit his store.
Adamopolous described himself as a long-time cyclist who supports cycling infrastructure but insisted that 31st Street was not an ideal location for a protected bike lane, noting that the corridor is heavily used by motorists and acts as a route between two major bridges — the Queensboro Bridge and the Triborough Bridge.
The DOT has pushed back against criticism of the bike lanes, stating that it is committed to delivering a safer, more equitable experience for everyone using 31st Street.
An agency spokesperson told QNS that the DOT has heard the concerns of 52 different businesses along 31st Street and incorporated those concerns into an updated design for the protected bike lanes. The updated plans include the addition of truck loading zones between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. to facilitate deliveries as well as the expansion of metered parking to increase turnover and improve parking access along the corridor.
The spokesperson added that the agency looks forward to defending the proposal in court on Sept. 22.
“This redesign of 31st Street — a corridor with a high number of serious and fatal crashes — addresses critical safety needs by better organizing traffic and improving visibility, all while keeping vehicles moving,” a DOT spokesperson said in a statement. “As with any street redesign, DOT requires input from all members of the community who may be affected.”
However, local business owners disputed that statement, accusing the DOT of developing the proposal and then seeking input from the local community, rather than working with the community to develop the proposal.
Bob Battipaglia of Grand Wine at 30-05 31st St. said there was “never a back and forth discussion” between the DOT and the local business community.
“They basically just shoved it down our throats without allowing us to have a reasonable chance for opposition,” Battipaglia said.
Adamopolous, meanwhile, accused the DOT of “going behind the backs” of business owners along 31st Street.
“We were misled. We were deceived,” Adamopolous said.
However, others said the redesign would help promote street safety in the area.
Ben Furnas, executive director of non-profit Transportation Alternatives, said the redesign would help make a dangerous stretch of Astoria safer for all road users, adding that the Supreme Court injunction puts families in “harm’s way.”
“The 31st Street redesign was created to protect people from dangerous traffic in a corridor with a long history of crashes,” Furnas previously told QNS.
The DOT has reported 178 injuries along the corridor over a five-year period, reporting multiple incidents of cyclists getting “doored” – referring to when a cyclist collides with a car door that has been opened.
