Hiya fellow NYers - I'm considering a move to the Bronx and wondered if anyone used any of these bridges regularly: Third Ave., Willis Ave., Madison Ave. I'd appreciate any thoughts on riding them, especially late-ish (after 11) at night. Right now I live in upper Manhattan, west side just under 125th, and am used to bike commuting at all hours and would like to continue, but only if I feel okay about the route.

The place I might move into is right by the on-ramp for the Third Ave. bridge, which looks like it may be one of those so-short-it's not-really-a-bridge bridges (like at 145th) so I had assumed I would use that, but the woman I may move in with has lived there a while and says that there are stairs on the bridge (though I didn't see any when I'd walked by earlier...?) and that the Manh. side gets sketchy at night. She takes the Willis Ave bridge instead -- so, without any other opinion to weigh, I guess I'd take that. But I've taken the bus over the Willis Ave, and I don't really like how long it is (in general I don't care for taking long bridges alone at night, I feel too isolated) and there seemed to be a lot of big orange barrels on the ped/bike path. I've also taken the bus over the Madison Ave. bridge and it looked like it might be a good option, a little desolate on 138th on the Bronx side but not completely deserted -- this is just a first impression.

Just to be clear, I'm not a timid rider, and am used to industrial, residential, midtown, downtown, Bklyn, Qns, rich neighborhoods, poor neighborhoods, etc. But being a woman travelling alone at night, I do like to consider my various options if I'm going to be commuting late on a regular basis. So, I'd appreciate any opinions -- about the bridges, or for that matter the Manh approach to the Willis Ave; I'm always on the west side and already know St. Nick and would feel okay about crossing Harlem via 138th to the Madison; I don't know about the ride up through the east side. Thanks for any responses!

hey, hey, hey, NYC

Fellow Biker here, however i need some NYC advice.
My daughter is visiting NYU this weekend and I would like to know how the traffic is.
She'll be going on the 8th of OCT. HOw long are the delays. They will be going thru the Holland tunnel from Jersey. Could't find a midtown hotel for under $400/night, Ouch!

Formaly from Ozone Park
long time ago.

I wish i could help you out. Thanks.

gahaya, can't say much about it, lacking experience with said bridges. I would like to share though that I was waterballooned in the ear, point-blank on St. Nicholas in that area this summer, so keep your eyes open for kids as well as cars! So you're moving to SoBro? Next "hot" area, IMO.

Edit: kali, you can see "live" traffic status on sites like 1010 WINS. That may help you figure things out. My advice? Ditch the car in NJ and take the ferry across.

There are plenty of reasonably priced hotels on the Upper West Side, a reasonable subway, bus or taxi ride from NYU.

Kali
please check your PMs if you need help with a hotel near NYU.

Gayh, I thought I went over the third ave bridge friday and it had no stairs, it was late, about the 9th hour of riding and about the 90th mile, so I could be wrong. We plugged right into 2nd ave which shoots downtown with little traffic for the first 40 to 50 blocks. We had a great ride the length of the Bronx and I look forward to doing it again. Reminded me of the Warriors ride that was so F'ing cool a few years ago. Good luck on your new digs.


Kali there are some hotels in the Financial Dist that are super cheap on the weekends, and there are NYU busses that support the dorm down here on water and fulton st.

The Third Avenue bridge never had those stairs until recently and I would avoid it because those steap stairs are horrible if you have a heavy bike. It's sad because this was done to speed up the traffic. I would find another bridge.

I haven't ridden any of them lately... but I seem to recall that one or more was built with that deadly metal-mesh surface. Can anyone confirm?

nycm'er, glad you had a great Bronx ride. I think you might have been on the Willis Ave. bridge, if you descended onto Second Ave. Oboeguy, sorry to hear you got ballooned, that's obnoxious. Steve.Dahon, thanks for the tip on the stairs - I do have a heavy, old steel bike. Love it, but the bike+pannier+heavy chain around my waist+puny upper body strength=I avoid stairs as much as I can!

Welcome to the bronx!
Your best bet will be to take the madison avenue bridge. You have to be careful coming off the bridge on the bronx side as traffic is alittle busy due to cars turning right to catch the bruckner expressway. The Willis avenue bridge would be bad for you because you need to carry that heavy bike down a flight of stairs that lead to the bruckner service road. Good luck.

Thanks FDMedic! The Madison Ave. looked good to me because I'm mostly going to be coming from the west side anyway. Where in the Bronx do you live?