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Anyone who has tried to cross 31st Street knows how dangerous the current design is. Drivers swerve to avoid double parked cars, and they cut corners as they fly through crosswalks. Bikes and mopeds weave in and out of the subway pillars with limited visibility, putting pedestrians in danger. Pedestrians must walk 60 feet across all lanes of traffic, making it difficult for seniors, people with disabilities, and families with strollers to make it to the other side before the light changes as they navigate potholes and uneven pavement. In fact, 31st Street is in the top 10% of most dangerous streets in all of Queens—190 of our neighbors have been hurt in crashes on the project corridor since 2020, including 12 severe injuries and 2 deaths.

The city has studied the conditions on 31st Street extensively over the past 5 years, and have finally announced a plan that will fix many of these problems - but now, a small group of private business owners are fighting AGAINST these life-saving improvements, stoking irrational fears based on misinformation and sometimes outright falsehoods. And now, the future of the project seems unclear: even though the arguments against this street safety project are largely irrational, they’ve succeeded in making enough noise that the city may reverse course and allow 31st Street to remain unsafe for everyone, in order to appease a few businesses owners who would rather place their own convenience first.

Sign the petition in support of a safe 31st Street and tell the DOT: street design decisions must be based on empirical evidence and safety, and Astoria residents want this safety redesign to proceed unimpeded! 

Studies have demonstrated that protected bike lane designs reduce deaths and injuries for all road users by 16.1%, for pedestrians by 29.2%, and for senior-aged pedestrians by 39%. In addition, streets that prioritize pedestrians and cyclists result in increased foot traffic, benefitting local businesses who are able to capitalize on the influx of customers. In Sunnyside, business revenues increased by 12% after a similar safety project was implemented on Skillman Avenue in 2017. 

Click here to review the details of the project shared by DOT.

 

 

 

 

A similar layout on White Plains Road:

 

 

 

 

 

** Myths and Facts about the 31st Street Safety Improvement Project **

MYTH: This project will result in heightened safety risks for both cyclists and other road users:

FACT: Protected bike lane designs have been shown to reduce deaths and injuries for all road users by 16.1%, for pedestrians by 29.2%, and for senior-aged pedestrians by 39%. The biggest risk for safety is to leave the conditions on 31st Street unchanged, forcing drivers to navigate between cyclists and pedestrians with no clear organization or rules of where different road users should be.

 

MYTH: This project will increase congestion:

FACT: There is no reduction of travel lanes or re-routing of motor vehicle traffic included in this project, and therefore no reason to assume that congestion will increase. On the contrary, providing safe alternatives to driving has been shown to reduce the number of cars on the road and decrease travel times for vehicles. 

 

MYTH: This project was canceled due to local opposition

FACT: This proposal was first presented in February 2020 as one of several options in response to years of advocacy for a protected north-south bicycle connection in Astoria. At the time, NYCDOT chose to move forward with the Crescent Street protected bike lane, which successfully made Crescent Street safer for all road users. 

 

Five years later, cycling and other micro-mobility usage has increased significantly, especially with the explosive growth of food delivery apps, and it is necessary to continue to make safety improvements to other streets in the neighborhood to reflect the reality of how they are being used. 

 

MYTH: The installation of the protected bike lane system may displace long-established local businesses, forcing them to relocate or potentially close:

FACT: Studies have repeatedly demonstrated that improving bike and pedestrian infrastructure increases sales revenue at nearby businesses:

• Streetsblog - Business Grew After Controversial Bike Lane Installed, Data Show (Skillman Avenue in Sunnyside)
• NYC DOT - Economic Benefits of Sustainable Streets
• NYC DOT - Streets for Recovery: The Economic Benefits of the NYC Open Streets Program (Include Ditmars Boulevard Open Street in Astoria, which in 2021 saw a 44% increase in taxable sales after pedestrianization, compared to a 6% increase for Queens as a whole, and a 6% decrease for a similar non-pedestrianized stretch of Ditmars Boulevard, compared with pre-COVID numbers)

MYTH: 31st Street is also a designated local truck route! 

FACT: 31st Street is not a designated local truck route

 

 

 

 

 

MYTH: Construction of the bicycle lanes and related roadwork will likely disrupt foot traffic and visibility for 31st Street businesses, as construction is expected to last for at least two months, potentially impacting business revenue. The permanence of these lanes will prohibit the delivery of vital goods to and from Queens:

FACT: The recent 31st Avenue safety improvements were installed over a period of several weeks without necessitating the closure of roads, installation of scaffolding, concrete or asphalt work, or obstruction of sidewalks and storefronts. Nothing about this project will prevent deliveries from reaching local businesses— they will continue to utilize the parking lane, which will be maintained. To the extent that businesses are concerned about a lack of dedicated delivery space, the city can, and should, implement designated commercial loading zones in the parking lane during specific hours. 

 

MYTH: This project will affect the placement of outdoor dining structures during the summer months:

FACT: According to the city’s own data, zero businesses on this corridor have applied for roadbed outdoor dining during the 2025 season. In the event that businesses wish to place outdoor dining structures on 31st Street in the future, this project will not prevent them from doing so, as evidenced by DOT’s guidelines for outdoor dining and the implementation of hundreds of outdoor dining structures in similar locations adjacent to bike lanes throughout the city. 

 

MYTH: 31st Street is the city’s “most industrial mile:”

FACT: The entirety of the project is contained within commercial and residential zones. There are no manufacturing zones on 31st Street between 36th Avenue and Newtown Avenue.

 

MYTH: This project will delay emergency response times:

FACT: This project has been reviewed by FDNY and it meets standards for emergency vehicle access. The proposed bike lanes and buffer are wide enough for emergency vehicles to pass through when necessary, allowing them to bypass any traffic in the vehicle travel lanes entirely, as we’ve seen on Crescent Street.

 

MYTH: This project is redundant due to nearby bicycle lanes on Crescent, 28th, 29th, 35th, and 36th Streets:

FACT: The bicycle lane is not the sole focus of this project - the goal is to improve safety conditions on 31st Street for all road users, and the bicycle lane is one of the tools being used to accomplish this goal. Furthermore, dedicated bicycle infrastructure is outmatched by dedicated motor vehicle infrastructure by a factor of 2 to 1. The petition opposing the project cites 5 nearby streets with bike lanes, while 10 out of the 15 north-south streets between 21st Street and Steinway are entirely dedicated to motor vehicle traffic.

 

MYTH: This project will make it harder for parents to drop off children at 6 local schools:

FACT: St. Demetrios is the only school located within the project area, and it has frontage on both 30th Street and 30th Drive which will remain unchanged. St. Demetrios also has a parking lot accessible via 31st Street, which provides vehicle access directly to the front of the school.