McGuinness Boulevard redesign is finished: protected bike lanes now run from Meeker Avenue to the Pulaski Bridge

The long-fought redesign of McGuinness Boulevard, the truck-heavy road that cuts through Greenpoint between the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and the Pulaski Bridge, is done. Mayor Zohran Mamdani marked the finish at a news conference on the boulevard Friday, NY1 reported.

What changed on the street

• One travel lane in each direction, down from two.
• Parking-protected bike lanes both ways along the full corridor, from Meeker Avenue to the Pulaski Bridge.
• Curbside lanes for parking and loading on both sides of the boulevard.
• Shorter pedestrian crossings and designs meant to slow turning vehicles, according to City Hall.

The corridor carries more than 4,000 cyclists a day in the summer, the city says, and is one of the main bike links between Brooklyn and Queens, 6sqft noted. Work started in May. In January, days after taking office, Mamdani had promised to finish before winter. "Even though it is cold, we have delivered on that promise," he said Friday, according to NY1.

How it got here

Residents pushed for changes for years. After teacher Matthew Jensen was killed in a 2021 hit-and-run at Bayard Street, the de Blasio administration committed $39 million to rebuild the corridor, 6sqft reported. In 2023 the Adams administration's DOT proposed a "road diet" that removed a lane each way and added protected bike lanes.

In August 2024, after pushback from some residents, businesses and officials, the Adams administration scaled the plan back. In 2025, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Ingrid Lewis-Martin, Adams's former chief adviser, with bribery, accusing her of accepting cash, catering and a TV cameo in exchange for helping change the redesign for the owners of a Greenpoint film production company that opposed it. The case is ongoing, 6sqft reported. As a candidate, Mamdani pledged to build the original plan.

At Friday's event, Jensen's cousin, John Ogren, spoke about the crash and held up his cousin's house keys, bent in the collision, according to 6sqft.

If you use the corridor

Drivers should expect a single lane each way between Meeker Avenue and the Pulaski Bridge, with loading zones at the curb. Cyclists get a protected lane in both directions the whole way, with no gaps or detours along the boulevard.