Cars on the Manhattan-bound side of the Brooklyn Bridge move slower than before one of its traffic lanes was turned into bike lane last year, according to data from the analysis firm INRIX.
Weekday traffic on the roadway this month has moved at an average speed of 19.5 mph — down 7.5 mph, or 28%, from the 27 mph pace recorded in March 2019, the data show.
The bridge’s Brooklyn-bound span — which did not lose a lane — saw a much smaller reduction in speeds, falling 1.2 mph, or 6%, from 19.8 mph in March 2019 to 18.6 mph this month.
City officials under former Mayor Bill de Blasio opened the bike lane last September. It was one of the de Blasio administration’s last major cycling projects, and aimed to address an sharp increase of bike trips over the East River bridges during the pandemic.
The two-way path is eight feet wide, and keeps cyclists from sharing the bridge’s pedestrian-packed promenade, which is often crowded with tourists taking in the views.
“We reclaimed space from cars on the Brooklyn Bridge to make cycling safer and easier while also greatly improving the pedestrian experience,” said city Department of Transportation spokesman Vin Barone.
“This project brought historic enhancements to this iconic span, even if it means Manhattan-bound drivers will have a slightly slower trip, and we’ve acknowledged that from the start.”
The benefit for cyclists and pedestrians alike is well worth the extra time motorists spend to cross the bridge, said transportation analyst Charlie Komanoff.
Komanoff said the lower speeds mean it takes drivers an extra 55 seconds to cross the bridge — which he estimated equates to about $10 million in lost time each year for the 64,560 Manhattan-bound motorists who use the crossing on a typical weekday.
By Komanoff’s math, the lower speed works out to a cost of about 50 cents for each Manhattan-bound Brooklyn Bridge motorist.
“That seems like a very fair trade when you think about the tens of thousands of people who are up in that bridge every day,” said Komanoff. “Every car that comes inbound is coughing up a half a buck in lost time. And that’s their cost for losing the lane that’s now the bike lane.”
Komanoff expects traffic speeds on the bridge to increase by about 15% once the Metropolitan Transportation Authority launches its congestion pricing program to toll motorists who drive south of 60th St. in Manhattan.
Data from the advocacy group Bike New York found the new lane was a hit, with the number of cycling trips across the Brooklyn Bridge growing from 550,594 in 2020 to 700,093 in 2021, a 27% increase.
“Five mph in New York City is not a huge loss for drivers, and cars are moving slower on either end of the bridge already,” said Jon Orcutt, policy director at Bike New York. “It’s creating new bike trips… We know they’re new trips because the Manhattan Bridge has not seen that increase in cycling.”
