Mamdani Vows To Appeal Ruling that Killed DOT's Astoria Bike Lane - Streetsblog New York City

"Incoming Mayor Zohran Mamdani will appeal a Queens judge's ruling ordering the city to rip out the new protected bike lane on 31st Street in Astoria, he told Streetsblog on Wednesday. The mayor-elect - who is also an Astoria resident until Jan. 1 - added that he was "very disappointed" by Supreme Court Justice Cheree Buggs's decision to order the Department of Transportation to erase the protection on a corridor Mamdani said he actively avoids as a cyclist due to its dangerous design."

""Whenever I had a choice, I would not bike on 31st Street because of a fear for my own safety, and it's not because of a lack of space, but it's because of a lack of protection for cyclists," Mamdani said at an unrelated press conference in Greenpoint. The Adams administration has yet to contest the Dec. 5 ruling, even as residents and experts - including a former FDNY commissioner - have called the ruling an overreach."

"Advocates also staged a "die-in" on the street last Friday night to protest the judge's ruling against a proven street safety redesign. Buggs's verdict told DOT to "restore" the old markings of 31st Street, between 31st Avenue and Newtown Avenue, claiming that DOT did not prove that it had properly certified its consultations with the Fire Department on the redesign - a rare, if not unprecedented, rejection of the city's long-established right to design the city's streets."

Zohran Mamdani will appeal a Queens judge's order to remove the protected bike lane on 31st Street in Astoria. Mamdani, an Astoria resident until Jan. 1, said he avoids the corridor as a cyclist because its design lacks protection and he feared for his safety. The Adams administration had not contested the Dec. 5 ruling. Officials have until Jan. 4 to appeal, making defense of cyclists an early mayoral responsibility. Advocates staged a die-in to protest the ruling. The judge ordered DOT to restore old markings, finding DOT had not properly certified Fire Department consultations and citing a 2009 law on major transportation projects.

Read at Streetsblog