DOT touts nearly complete Queens bus route revamp

Construction of a 5-mile bus lane on Northern Boulevard in Queens is nearly complete, the New York City Department of Transportation said Tuesday.

The newly minted lanes were designed to help buses move faster and make pedestrian traffic safer between Woodside and Corona. Along the route, the DOT installed more than a dozen pedestrian islands and added painted curb extensions where possible.

“The thousands of New Yorkers who commute on Northern Boulevard will not only have faster and more reliable bus service, but they will have a safer experience when walking and crossing the corridor,” DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said in a statement.

According to the DOT, the bus lane on Northern Boulevard serves 17,000 daily riders.

Mayor Eric Adams has pledged to build 150 miles of new bus lanes and busways by the end of his term. But his administration has been slow to roll out bus infrastructure — according to the DOT’s own NYCStreetsPlan report in February, the DOT installed just 7.7 miles of new bus lanes in 2022.