Daelin Fischman, co-chair of Harbor Ring, writes an op-ed on MTA’s secret report

Daelin Fischman isn’t satisfied with the recent report the MTA released, and voices his opinion on why it isn’t enough.

“The latest proposal was funded after years of advocacy pushing for it. Yet, it was never publicly released. Instead, Streetsblog had to obtain it via the Freedom of Information Act, like it was some secret CIA report. The plan Streetsblog recovered was a detailed engineering report rife with facts and figures. The one thing missing from the report was a clear way to give pedestrians and cyclists access to the bridge. The directive given by the public to the MTA was ‘find a way to give us bridge access.’ The report’s troubled conclusion is that access is not possible without $350 million and 20 years to wait.

We reject that conclusion. The final report that was dragged out of the MTA is a betrayal of the public directive.” – Daelin Fischman

You can read more here

Andrew Yang voices his support to complete the Harbor Ring Route after his recent visit to Staten Island

Andrew Yang releases a transit plan that includes completing the Harbor Ring route by looking at different options to build a bike path and pedestrian walkway over the Verrazzano Bridge.

Said Andrew Yang, “Staten Island has long been deprived of efficient and essential transportation infrastructure that would ease New Yorkers’ mobility between all five boroughs. My plan involves expanding existing systems such as ferry and bus services, making more accessible transit for disabled commuters, exploring new transportation infrastructure such as a bike lane on the Verrazzano Bridge, and more. My administration will be focused on rebuilding New York not as it was, but how it should be, and that means a more unified, interconnected city.”

Eric Adams and Shaun Donovan, two NYC Mayoral candidates, endorse the Harbor Ring and public access to the Verrazzano

Two NYC Mayoral candidates endorse the Harbor Ring and public access to the Verrazzano in an exclusive by Streetsblog.

Eric Adams says, “I would also direct the DOT to investigate how we connect the missed connections in our cycling network, including the Harbor Ring and expanded cycling access over bridges such as the Verrazzano-Narrows. This is a simple and quick way to advance a true cycling network, even if that means using temporary infrastructure until we have capital resources to fully build out the network.”

Shaun Donovan states, “I will get the Verrazzano Bridge opened for pedestrians and cyclists, implement an upgrade to the Brooklyn Bridge pedestrian and cycling path, study road use for bikes on the 59th street bridge, build a protected bike lane in Astoria between the 59th Street and Triboro bridges, and improve bridge crossings between the Bronx and northern Manhattan.”

MTA’s hidden report finally released after years of FOIL requests

After years of FOIL requests by Streetsblog, the MTA finally released a report for building a bicycle and pedestrian lane on the Verrazzano bridge in December 2020. The report completely abandoned several viable options presented by the bridge’s original designers (Ammann & Whitney), instead presenting several focus groups with an extremely jazzed up plan that came with a superfluous price tag. Gersh, of Streetsblog has the latest.

The never seen before report, obtained by Streetsblog, below.

Join us for the Verrazzano’s 56th birthday at our “Voices for the Verrazzano” Virtual Watch Party on November 21st at 12:00pm

It’s the Verrazzano’s 56th birthday on Saturday, November 21st, 2020! In honor of this day, we will be hosting a remote “nonopening” event (since the bridge was never open to pedestrians and bicycle riders like its initial plans had included).

Join us, Transportation Alternatives, and Bike South Brooklyn for a virtual watch party where we will speak about why we advocate for pedestrian and bicycle access on the Verrazzano, feature a 5-minute video of community organizations, our councilmen, and locals like yourselves who support our cause, and have an open discussion with a moderator answering your questions concerning this issue at hand and what you can do to help! Hope to see you there!

Live stream at: bit.ly/OpenTheVNB

MTA releases preliminary plan for a shared use path on the VNB

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The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) recently released a preliminary report on its Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge Master Plan — including conceptual views of possible shared-use paths on the bridge.

The current proposals are much more ambitious than previous bridge path designs, and the costs reflect that – estimated to be between $300 and $400 million. The encouraging part is that the MTA has seemingly put real effort and resources into finally building a walking and bicycling connection between Staten Island and Brooklyn.

You can view the entire MTA presentation HERE.