“A great bike network is made up of great bike routes.” — League of American Bicyclists
Summary
Grayways is a proposal calling on the NYC Departments of Transportation and Parks & Recreation to designate 500 miles of recreational bike routes connecting city parks. See draft NYC Council bill and resolution.
Immediate beneficiaries include NYC’s 880,000 active adult cyclists and neighborhood food shops who’d see a surge in customers. Over time, the network would be upgraded to induce a greater percentage of the public to use it.
Organizations in Support (18)
Bicycle Touring Club of North Jersey, Black Girls Do Bike: NYC, Ciclistas Latinoamericanos de New York, Empire Tri Club, Five Boro Bike Club, Huntington Bicycle Club, I Challenge Myself, InTandem Bike, Kids Ride Club, Long Island Randonneurs, Morris Area Freewheelers, New York Cycle Club, NYC Velo, OutCycling, Open Plans, QNS Social Ride, Staten Island Bicycling Association, Team Red White & Blue
The twenty three (23) proposed routes:
- Aggregate NYC’s 1500 miles of bikeways and on-road bike lanes plus quiet residential streets and commercial areas that are empty on weekends (“industrial parks”)
- Range from 8 to 45 miles. Average length is 27.5 miles.
- Span the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island
- Leverage NYC’s ferry and subway systems
- Avoid already overcrowded facilities like Central/Prospect Park Drives, Coney Island/FDR Boardwalks and Hudson Greenway.
- Feature neighborhood food stops and points of interest.
- Incorporate city playgrounds to provide rest stops at regular intervals and opportunities for Citibike to site docking stations.
- Do not take parking spots, close streets nor involve the NYPD.
First Iteration
First iteration of the network can be implemented simply by hosting route GPS data on NYC.GOV websites. This will immediately benefit the 880,000 NYC cyclists already comfortable riding in city traffic. [eg. Queens Boulevard]
As routes gain acceptance, they would be upgraded with safety improvements to induce demand across a greater percentage of city residents.
Portland Board of Transportation
Upgrades
On low stress roads, a standard bike lane reduces cyclist of risk of injury as much as a protected lane. So a network comprised of low stress roads would be simpler to upgrade.
New York City Department of Transportation.
Upgrade Strategies
- Routes should incorporate new DOT projects as they come online.
- Crowd source the prioritization of improvements (“iteration”).
- Permit cyclists to yield vs. stop along designated bike routes.
- Allow municipalities to set speed limits along designated bike routes to 15 mph.
- Designate sequences of low stress streets as bike boulevards and corridors. Reorient traffic signs and add leading pedestrian intervals (“LPI”) at signaled intersections to minimize stopping.
Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (“MUTCD”)
- Have DOT designate bicycle-pedestrian cut-throughs to (re)connect public roads.
From Staten Island #4 – Latourette, mile 5.7—cut-through from Douglas to Milden
- Reroute through parks and parking lots to bypass high stress sections.
From Queens #5 – Richmond Hill, mile 19.1-22.5 routes through Aqueduct Raceway and Home Depot parking lots to bypass Rockaway Boulevard.
- Where it isn’t feasible to designate bike boulevards full time, implement it weekends. Or in a series of Borough President-sponsored ciclovías. Or in Mayor-sponsored bike-to-work Mondays. Rotate the routes for variety.
- Feature local merchants and BID food events.
Car-Free Sundays to lower dependence on imported oil. International Energy Agency.
- Have Parks & Recreation designate playgrounds as part of the network and commit to keeping their restrooms open.
- Incorporate E-bike charging stations at regular intervals.
- Organize residents in outlying neighborhoods to bike-pool to work.
Civic Bike Commuting Research Project (CiBiC) via Bloomberg.
Resources
Urban – Transport for London Strategic Cycling Analysis, Regional Plan Association Jamaica Bay Greenway, 1997 NYC Bicycle Master Plan, Brooklyn Greenway Initiative—Greenway Adventures, San Francisco Slow Streets, NYC Council Intro 0291-2022 – CityWide Greenway Bill, 34th Avenue Open Street
Suburban – Somerset (NJ) Walk-Bike-Hike, Bergen (NJ) Parks Master Plan, Suffolk County Hike And Bike Master Plan, Bike Hunterdon
Rural – Small and Rural Multimodal Networks, USDOT-FHWA
Scenic Roads – CT Scenic Roads, NY Scenic Byways, Taste NY Cuisine and Beverage Trails
Extended Routes – U.S. Bicycle Route System, NY Bicycle Route System, NY BR Viewer, Old Croton Aqueduct State Park, Empire State Trail, High Point (NJ) to Cape May Bike Route, East Coast Greenway, RPA Tri-State Trail Network, LAB Benchmarking Bike Networks
Benefits
Extend Access to Green Space
- Grayways furthers the objective of DOPR’s Walk to a Park by making all parks available to all residents, even those typically accessed by car—Shirley Chisholm, Orchard Beach.
- By regarding the act of travel as a recreational activity, the network would blur the boundaries between parks and their environs—the objective of Parks Without Borders.
- It would showcase the $130 million invested in the Community Parks Initiative and broaden the constituency for further improvements.
- Adding recreational capacity outside Central/Prospect Park drives, Coney Island/FDR boardwalks and Hudson Greenway will reduce overcrowding during periods of peak use.
Nationally, twice as many people bike for recreation as transportation. This infers that projects which prioritize recreational use will draw twice as many users vs. those that facilitate commuting.
“U.S. Bicycling Participation Benchmarking Study, 2015,” People for Bikes (p.22)
- The NYSERDA-Urban Cycling Solutions NY Cycling Census, found that “a third of respondents currently use their bikes for tourism purposes and that most are very likely to.”
Benefit Underserved Constituencies
- Extend opportunities for exercise and recreation to residents across NYC, particularly to communities with limited access to green space.
- Bridge transportation deserts. Reduce household spending on travel.
- Enhance the already cost-effective health benefits of bike infrastructure by increasing rider exertion, the duration of trips taken and the safety of numbers.
- Create a rationale for bike share providers to extend service to outer boroughs—and a literal road map for where to site docking stations.
- Create the impetus for NYC’s bridge operators to expand bike capacity.
MTA’s seven toll bridges—none of which support bike access. Bike map NYCDOT.
Create Jobs, Develop Local Economies
Cycle tourism added $97 billion to the U.S. economy in 2017. Per capita, that’s $248 million per year in NYC—but that doesn’t factor the City’s 1300 mile bike grid, 20 million bike share trips and that 10% of adult residents ride regularly.
- Leverage the billions of dollars invested in bike paths and city parks as a vehicle to drive tourism and support the trend toward staycations.
- Support Business Improvement Districts’ promotion of local business and special events—Bronx Night Market.
- Enhance home values. Smart growth studies by National Association of Realtors correlate a 5-10% increase to a homes’ proximity to bikeways.
- Bike shops rely on recreational cycling to generate the bulk of their profits.
- A network of attractive routes and destinations and regular rest stops will draw cyclists from Long Island, Westchester, Connecticut and New Jersey.
Have a Positive Effect on Climate Change
- Promote cycling as a preferred mode of recreational travel, thereby reducing vehicle miles traveled (VMT). This includes electric vehicles which also pose significant threats to the environment.
- Grow multi-modal trips by increasing catchment and capacity of neighborhood transit hubs. Create the safe connectors for bike share providers to site facilities.
Invest in Resilient Infrastructure
- Supplement mass transit during periods of peak use—particularly with the advent of E-Bikes which can cut travel times in half.
- Enhance resilience to widespread transport outage resulting from extreme weather events, structural failure, global pandemic or armed conflict.
- Spur bridge operators to enhance bike access across the City’s arterial crossings—Henry Hudson, Cross Bay, Marine Parkway, Tri-Boro, George Washington and Outerbridge.
Marine Parkway Bridge. Image John T. Chiarella
“There may be nothing more frustrating for a cyclist or advocate than a bike lane to nowhere—one that ends in a dangerous roadway, or at an intimidating intersection, or only exists for a block or two.” — League of American Bicyclists
Each of the 23 routes below comprise a map (red is outbound), RidewithGPS links, turn-by-turn directions (“cue sheet”) and a featured food stop. Total distance is 632.2 miles. Average trip length is 27.5 miles.
Bronx #1 – Pelham Bay, 28.1 miles – GPS, cue sheet, food stops – Barino’s Market, Bronx Brewery
Bronx #2 – Van Cortlandt, 23.7 miles – GPS, cue sheet, Kingsbridge Social Club
Bronx #3 – City Island, 28.0 miles – GPS, cue sheet, Johnny’s Reef, Tony’s Pier
Bronx #4 A-D – Harlem> Yonkers, Classon Point> Highbridge, Soundview> Mt. Vernon, Ferry Point> Pelham
Brooklyn #1 – Marine Park, 35.4 – GPS, cue sheet, FalafaLafa
Brooklyn #2 – Shirley Chisholm, 34.8 miles – GPS, cue sheet
Brooklyn #3 – Manhattan Beach, 19.5 miles – GPS, cue sheet, Brighton Beach
Brooklyn #4 – Canarsie Pier, 38.7 miles – GPS, cue sheet, Spumoni Gardens

Queens #2 – Idlewild, 40.1 miles – GPS, cue sheet, Jamaica Breeze
Queens #3 – Francis Lewis, 34.3 miles – GPS, cue sheet, Tony’s Beechhurst Deli
Queens #4 – Hamilton Beach, 36.3 miles – GPS, cue sheet, New Park Pizza
Queens #5 – Richmond Hill, 34.0 miles – GPS, cue sheet, Singh’s Roti
Queens #6 – Floral Park, 37.6 miles – GPS, cue sheet, Buttercooky Bakery

Staten Island #2 – Clay Pit (Dirt) 45.1 miles – GPS, cue sheet, Mona Lisa Pizza, Annadale Bakery
Staten Island #3 – Bloomingdale, 35.5 miles – GPS, cue sheet, Pio’s Bagels, Ariemma’s Italian Deli
Staten Island #4 – Latourette, 38.3 miles – GPS, cue sheet,
Press
• Inflation taking bite out of infrastructure projects, Spectrum News 1, 6/22
• London Mayor to expand ultra-low emission zone, Financial Times, 3/22
• 39 NYS legislators call for $200 million for NYC bikeways, 2/22
• London prepares for 10-fold increase in cycling-walking, Smart Cities, 5/20
• How Paris’ cycling success built a roadmap for others, Curbed, 1/20
• Deaths Expose Chaos of Central Park Loop, NY Times, 9/28/14
• A6235B/S04943B calls on MTA to expand bike access across its bridges, 6/21
• Grayways—New Jersey> Staten Island
Elizabeth to Whitehall, 11.1 miles – 1 hour, 17 minutes cycling vs. 1 hour, 3 minutes for NJ Transit and MTA subway
Neile Weissman has organized a thousand rides for New York Cycle Club and is its current Public Relations Director. He also heads Complete George—two hundred organizations and communities calling for expanded bike capacity across the George Washington Bridge.
North-South County Trailway (Bronx-Westchester-Putnam). Image Alex Lektchinov.