Cyclists have been rerouted off of the riverfront boardwalk in an attempt to improve social distancing.
On the Easter long weekend, the city introduced changes aimed at helping the city better manage pedestrians and cyclists on the riverfront. Cyclists have now been redirected to Quayside Drive, while “directional travel” has been introduced for pedestrians on the boardwalk, in an effort to get people to walk in the same direction and minimize face-to-face contact.
“From what I’ve heard – and I didn’t go down there this weekend – there was still lots of people down on the boardwalk,” said Mayor Jonathan Cote. “There still have been concerns in the community about the amount of people down there. Having said that, we did hear from our enforcement team that people, for the most part, were respecting the restrictions that are being put in place to help manage social distancing on the riverfront.”
Cote said the city still hasconcerns about the crowds coming down to the riverfront and encourages folks to stay in their neighbourhoods.
“For Quayside, which has got a senior population, we think it’s actually important that the boardwalk plays an important role for that neighborhood to be able to get some outdoor space,” he said. “But when we have other parts of the city and other parts of the region visiting it, it’s making that more difficult.”
City officials have warned that if people don’t adhere to proper physical distancing recommendations in public spaces such as parks, those spaces could be closed.
“We are trying to find something that works. We do think our parks and trails are important for people to be able to go to and for their mental health during this crisis but we can only keep them open and viable if we are able to accomplish proper social distancing,” Cote said. “I think overall we are seeing in most of the areas of the city very responsible use of these areas, but these things are changing daily and new concerns or issues are constantly popping up and we are having to evolve to adjust to them.”
Some Queensborough residents were pleased to see representatives from the education and enforcement on the river walk on that side of the river over the weekend, where they were talking to folks about appropriate social distancing. Prior to the long weekend, a Queensborough resident contacted the Record to see if officials would be visiting the Queensborough river walk, as they’d noticed a significant increase of foot and bicycle traffic along the scenic riverfront.
