Across New York City, with the population above 8.5 million, foot traffic has increased across many bridges. The Brooklyn Bridge has seen its largest crowds on weekends, according to counts the city takes each May. An average of 1,917 people an hour crossed at peak times in 2015, or more than triple the 511 people in 2008. Weeknight traffic increased to an average of 1,057 people an hour at peak times from 880 people in 2008.

Bike traffic has also grown on the Brooklyn Bridge, reaching an average of 358 cyclists an hour at peak weeknight hours in 2015, compared with 185 cyclists in 2008. Ryan Russo, a deputy transportation commissioner, said that while he biked across the Brooklyn Bridge to work in the morning, he returned home on the Manhattan Bridge so as “to not contribute to the crowding.”

Even with more people crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, city officials point out that there are fewer than a dozen collisions involving pedestrians and cyclists reported each year. The city has already taken steps to address congestion and safety issues on the bridge, including painting a wider line between the pedestrian and bike lanes and adding more bike and directional markings.

On a recent Friday afternoon, pedestrians were crisscrossing the bike lanes as they snapped photos or took in the views. Cyclists had to steer carefully to avoid crashing into them, or the spider web of cables that runs alongside the bridge to support it.

“It was quite crowded,” Koen du Maine, 21, a college student from the Netherlands, said after riding a Citi Bike across the bridge to Manhattan. “You have to be careful. There are always people in the bike lane.”

He added that it was easier to ride in his native country because the bike and pedestrian lanes are typically separated by barriers, and are often on different levels, so there is less drifting between them. (City transportation officials have provided a conceptual rendering of a promenade expansion that would include those changes.)