Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - williamsburg bridge bumps to be removed (finally!)

as erin/luggedwithlove posted on my bike wreck thread, i think it's worthy of its own thread.

transalt states in their newsletter: (http://www.transalt.org/e-bulletin/2005/Sept/0916a.html#bumps)



Today the New York City Department of Transportation announced that it is replacing the 26 dangerous 2-inch high expansion joint covers on the Williamsburg Bridge biking and walking path with a safe alternative. While details are still emerging, it appears that the new replacement covers represent an improvement. Click here to see T.A.'s hard-hitting, report, "A Bridge to Scar;" about the dangers the bumps have posed to all bridge users.

here's a rendering of the new covers:

http://www.transalt.org/e-bulletin/2005/Sept/images/bumps.jpg

why did they make the manhattan bridge bumps so nice and they keep fukcing up the wburg bridge ones?? even the above picture doesn't look like THAT much of an improvement!

the new expansion joints are a whopping big improvement for sure. They have a couple of them done. I predict you'll like it.

does this mean no more pictures?????

']does this mean no more pictures?????

maybe not, sorry.

buuuuuut... i just rode over the bridge and about one quarter of the bumps are already gone.

there were guys at work on it around 8pm and i shouted to them as i passed "eff the bumps! yeah! get rid of them!" and they looked amused and gave me a thumbs up.

the new ones are even less severe than the picture looks. they're almost invisible and you don't even feel them.

it's a fantastic improvement!

hi ben

hey erin!

man, i actually look forward to hitting the bridge now!

i was also riding over when the workers were replacing the bumps.. but they had only gotten to one side on the manhattan approach and i never got a chance to feel them out myself tho.. hallelelooooooooooo!

My problem with the billyburg bridge isn't so much the bumps, they aren't any worse than the manhattan bridge bumps, just more, but with the access. Trying to get on the bridge from delancy is like a war zone, fighting traffic and pedestrians, and you can't really go straight onto it, you have to cross delancy to get to it. Had a near death one time that involved falling into oncoming traffic, now I avoid that bridge at all cost.

i hear that. the delancy entrance\exit to the bridge is designed horribly for peds. it's on an island in the middle of two way traffic. to fix or design that probably won't happen in our lifetimes. but at least for now the bumps are going to be a hell of an improvement.

i try to enter from the southside of delancey, even if i'm approaching from the north.

man, I leave bburg and they fix the bridge! But in terms of entering the best technique I've found is to go east on delancy and then cut into that outside service road type thing right before the bridge. It lasts a block and then sort of merges back with delancy/the bridge entrance. Right at that point there is a sort of triangular no man's land/imaginary island formed by the two roads and the little concrete sidewalk dividing them. You can hang out there until the light changes and then easily zip across delancy to the bridge entrance. Its way easier then I just made it sound.

But in truth the real problem with that bridge is how far east it is. All that crosstown traffic kills you, you can get to say union square as fast from south brooklyn as you can from williamsburg, mainly cause you get let off so much further west on the two downtown bridges..

i actually find its easiest to approach the bridge going east on delancey, but instead of cutting intyo the service road, which means cutting back across all 3 lanes to get on the bridge, i stay in the middle of the far left lane...it pisses off motorists trying to speed onto the bridge, but it gives me enough space to then get on the sidewalk where the handicapped cutout is, or to megre further left between the traffic cones and bunnyhop onto the sidewalk

i havent seen teh new bumps yet, but pretty much anything will be an improvement...maybe now i will be getting less calls for injured bikers (my ambulance sits, literally, right under the bridge...stop by and say hi or chat about bikes!)

woooo hoooo!
no more bumps!

and they had to be taller than two inches...god they suck/ed.

vivophobic, I've done that a few times, but man it takes an awful lot of trust that the cars behind you will stay behind and not try and zoom onto the bridge at 55 or something. I don't mind riding in traffic, but I like having a bit more room to maneuver. That said I actually seem get into way nastier close call situations going the other way, off the bridge and down Delancey. I do it all the time, but riding off that bridge and into moving traffic is one of the stupider things you can do on a bike in ny...

er... i just ride in traffic until i hit the bridge entrance, then make a quick left. same as the brooklyn bridge approach going into manhattan.

???

but whoo. those bumps sucked. i saw they were doing construction there and got mighty pleased. in addition to the paving of houston, no more crotch torture!

my approach of choice is down delancey street.

i just wait till the light on delancey at norfolk turns red, there's rarely any cross traffic because most cars off norfolk are turning right onto the bridge, then i book it out out in front of all the traffic and onto the bridge.

my approach of choice is down delancey street.

i just wait till the light on delancey at norfolk turns red, there's rarely any cross traffic because most cars off norfolk are turning right onto the bridge, then i book it out out in front of all the traffic and onto the bridge.

yep yep yep. Far left lane all the way to the walk ramp and up up up that bridge.