More than 500 days ago, representatives from the Department of Transportation stood in front of a local community board and told the public new bike lanes were coming to Queens Boulevard. The community board could vote for the lanes or against, they said, but it didn’t matter—the lanes, stretching from Rego Park to Kew Gardens, would be implemented.

After signs popped up in the summer of 2018 warning of the construction to come, nothing happened. The signs disappeared. The protected bike lanes, a major part of a Queens Boulevard redesign intended to cut down drastically on pedestrian and cyclist fatalities, never arrived.

The delay continues even as the DOT held a press conference in East New York on Wednesday afternoon to cut the ribbon on the 100th mile of protected bike lane installed by the de Blasio administration.

“It’s ridiculous. It’s crazy,” said Juan Restrepo, the Queens organizer for Transportation Alternatives. “Hundreds of hours of community outreach were done for this proposal.”

On Sunday, Restrepo and other advocates rallied, once again, for the bike lane, calling on City Hall to finish the job. The protected lanes would be the fourth phase, reaching from Yellowstone Boulevard to Union Turnpike, of a project that began on Queens Boulevard in western Queens and immediately bore results: since 2015, when the redesign was announced, fatalities along what was once known as the “boulevard of death” have fallen dramatically.

The final phase has been stalled for over a year now. Officially, there is no explanation from DOT. A project that was slated to begin has simply been delayed and there is no firm timetable for when it will be kicked off. “We’ve completed four miles of redesign on Queens Boulevard, driving fatalities to a record low, and will continue working through this last, most challenging section,” said Will Baskin-Gerwitz, a City Hall spokesman.

On Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on NY1 that the bike lanes would be finished sometime in 2020.

Behind the scenes, as Gothamist reported earlier this year, the bike lane has been ensnared in an unprecedented political fight over the closure of Rikers Island and the erection of four new outer borough jails, including one in Kew Gardens. The local councilmember, Karen Koslowitz, has long been a bike lane skeptic, sharing the concerns of a select number of businesses who believe the loss of parking on eastern stretches of the bike lane have hurt them. The community board also voted against the lanes.

Koslowitz has faced backlash over the siting of a new, larger jail in Kew Gardens. A DOT official told Gothamist in March the department was ready to implement the fourth phase of the bike lane project but de Blasio’s office ordered them to put it on hold until after the furor over the jail died down. “They want Koslowitz’s support and know they can’t have her take two political hits for this,” the DOT official said at the time.

Koslowitz’s vote was crucial for the new jail, which requires a rezoning to pass the City Council. Last week, with Koslowitz’s full-throated approval, the plan passed. Advocates now hope City Hall will push ahead with the bike lanes.

Michael Cohen, a Koslowitz spokesman, called any accusations of linking the jail and bike issues “nonsense.” Yet he appeared to concede the de Blasio administration’s delay could be tied to the Rikers Vote.

“Yes, the councilwoman has opposed what the city has proposed [with phase four of the bike lane] and perhaps out of respect for her support for the jail, it’s given the administration pause,” Cohen said.

The Sunday rally was intentionally scheduled after the Rikers vote, and several speakers alluded to the connection between the Kew Gardens jail and the last phase of the bike lane.

What has become clear is just how out of the ordinary this stalling is. Jon Orcutt, a former DOT official who is now the director of communications at Bike New York, said controversy over bike lanes is common in New York City but officials rarely delay a project once the public outreach—appearances in front of the community board, signage in the neighborhood—is complete.

“What was remarkable about the Queens Boulevard case was that it was announced for implementation and kind of on the verge of getting started,” Orcutt said. “Then it was pulled back.”

Bike lane projects can “gestate” in DOT for years, Orcutt said. But once they are made public and gain the backing of City Hall—and overcome any legal hurdles—they almost always happen promptly.

“I haven’t seen a bike lane used as a hostage or a bargaining chip,” he said. “Usually, the fight is over the bike lane itself.”