Case Closed: Judge Allows DOT to Build a Bike Lane

The city can finally put the “bliss” in “Blissville.” 

The Department of Transportation got the green light from a judge to build a bike lane on a dangerous corridor in Long Island City’s Blissville section that was held up for months by a lawsuit brought by local industrial businesses. 

LeNoble Lumber and other businesses located on the long single block of Review Avenue between Greenpoint and Meeker avenues had sued over the proposed parking-protected two-way bike lane on the grounds that it had not been subjected to a proper environmental review — and those firms won a temporary stop work order last year, just as construction was set to begin. 

But on Friday, Justice Kevin Kerrigan of Queens Supreme Court dismissed the claims, siding with DOT that the agency does not have to do an environmental impact study for a bike lane because the project is simply within the agency’s statutory power to administer the roadways.

The DOT told Streetsblog it is encouraged by the ruling.

“We are thankful for the court’s ruling and are determining next steps as well as a schedule for implementation,” agency spokesperson Vin Barone said in a statement.

You paint seen nothing yet

The department has not provided a clear update as to when it will get started on the Review Avenue bike lane, but in a recent court filing, DOT lawyer Kevin Rizzo explained that the department was anxious to begin. 

“[Since] last October, DOT has been unable to take further steps to install these planned safety improvements on Review Avenue,” read the March letter. “Meanwhile, DOT has continued to receive repeated requests from the community for the bicycle lane. … As the seasonal increase in cycling begins, these safety improvements are of growing importance to the public.”

The project is part of what residents call the “Blissville Greenway,” a network of bike lanes in the mostly-industrial area that will fill dangerous holes in Queens’s bike network. The Blissville Civic Association has been advocating for the project since 2017, and it was presented at Queens Community Board 2 last year. 

Review Avenue is currently a sewer of cars parked on the already narrow sidewalk with large trucks double parked and haphazardly pulling in and out of businesses like LeNoble. When Streetsblog visited the area in May, it seemed safer to just ride on the sidewalk than risk it on Review. Tom Mituzas, the secretary of Blissville Civic and a lifelong local, told Streetsblog the bike lane is important not just for cyclists, but for pedestrians wishing to use the sidewalk as well. 

“The bike lane will protect not only the bicyclists but it will also protect the greenery that all the cars are now parked on top of, and protect the sidewalk so we can walk and jog, and it will protect our trees too,” said Mituzas.  

The project, which includes the bike lane on Review Avenue, has three phases. The first phase was all set to begin last fall, but the lawsuit threw a wrench in the plan. 

That phase also includes:

• Painted lanes on southbound Starr Avenue and northbound Review Avenue between Greenpoint and Borden avenues.
• Protected lanes on three short stretches (Van Dam Street and Greenpoint Avenue near the bridge) and Borden Avenue between Starr and Review Avenues.

Phase II (was slated to start this year, but is obviously delayed) will consist of a bike lane on Borden Avenue from Center Boulevard in Long Island City to Review Avenue, which will connect the Queens waterfront to points east.

Phase III (has no start date) calls for unspecified improvements on 56th Road and Rust Street.

The small, but mighty, community of Blissville has roughly 1,000 residents, but the area is an important thoroughfare for the Brooklyn and Queens bike network.

Mituzas has noticed an increase in cyclists passing through Blissville since the Kosciuszko Bridge pedestrian and bike path opened in 2019.

“This isn’t just about the residents of Blissville, it’s about the people who traverse through Blissville. We are a gateway between Brooklyn and northwestern Queens,” said Mituzas. (He said that as a positive thing, unlike some community leaders who seek to block bike lanes that are part of networks.)

But the area is unsafe. According to the letter from DOT’s lawyer, the project corridor is in the top one-third of dangerous corridors in Queens.

Between 2019 and 2023, the DOT said 178 people were injured along the roadways that are slated to get safety improvements, including 15 people who were killed or seriously injured. In 2019, cyclist Robert Spencer, 53, and Mario Valenzuela, 14, was both killed on Borden Avenue. 

In addition to the Civic Association, Council Member Julie Won and Community Board 2 also support the project.