Zohran Mamdani became the first mayor of New York City to use a Quran at his swearing-in in a private ceremony inside an abandoned subway station after the New Year Eve’s ball drop. Given his historic streak of scripting several firsts as also the first South Asian NYC mayor, the 34-year-old politician is bound to attain viral fame every now and then.

In one such recent development, netizens couldn’t help but crown him as more “relatable” than ever. The New York City mayor’s public appearance on Delancey Street on Tuesday (US time) set the Internet abuzz with chatter. Many praised him in unison for doing something as trivial as fixing a pothole, but also for finally finding a remedy for the issue that had long been ignored by other officials. 

Mayor Zohran Mamdani paves the Delancey Street ‘bump’

Mamdani was spotted getting his hands dirty alongside a Department of Transportation crew, as the crowd had gathered to level an infamous hindrance that has long frustrated New Yorkers.

With a shovel in his hand, the Uganda-born official was seen spreading a heap of asphalt on top of the Williamsburg Bridge “bump.” The narrow and steep ramp near the Manhattan side of the bridge has given cyclists and pedestrians a years-long headache.

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The notoriously-famed bike lane bump on Delancey Street at the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge is basically an anxiety-inducing steep drop encountered by thousands of cyclists daily. It has often forced many to fall head first. According to the New York Times, the NYC bridge in question carries an average of 8,600 cyclists a day.

Although the photo-op was nothing extraordinary, it served as a symbolic reminder of Mamdani’s mission. “There will be no problem too big for us to take on, and no issue too small,” he said while surrounded by workers on Tuesday, as per the NYT.

While the bump-related work was completed on Tuesday itself, it essentially served its purpose as a step in the direction of a bigger goal Mamdani’s department plans to achieve soon.

The NYC mayor asserted on Tuesday that his administration aims to finish a $70 million redesign of the Delancey Street stretch from the bridge to the Bowery. Transportation Commissioner Mike Flynn foregrounded that renovation would make room for more pedestrian space and a “rational bike route.”

Zohran Mamdani goes viral on X: ‘Become mayor to fix the bridge bump’

While the issue may seem inconsequential to others, New Yorkers know well enough how much of a pain ‘The Bump’ has been for them.

Charlie Baker, an associate director at Transportation Alternatives, a cycling and safe-streets advocacy group, called paving the bump “our Super Bowl,” as per the NYT.

On the contrary, some also viewed the elimination of the bump as a significant loss, considering it had essentially been a part of their lives all these years. “ I love it. I think it’s great fun, I’m a big fan of the bump,” Marcus Hogan of Bushwick told Gothamist. “You get some pretty nasty air either coming in and going out. That’s pretty fun.”

On the other end of the same conversation, social media users on X couldn’t help but cheer on Mamdani’s small-but-much-needed effort to get rid of the bump. Many joked about how he, as a fellow New Yorker, may just have become the city mayor to fix the bump.

“Insanely relatable to immediately fix a literal bump in the road that has bothered you for years,” read a heavily-liked and viewed tweet on X. Another user wrote, “Thousands of bike riders on the Williamsburg Bridge were forced to ride over this narrow bump, and on his sixth day in office, Mayor Mamdani fixed it. Fixing these little things is what I voted for.”

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A third person added, “I like that his personal vendetta political movements are fixing the bike path that wronged him and not having someone killed or whatever.” A fifth user said, “EXACTLY what I wanted out of this administration. I bruised my coccyx biking over this exact ramp a few weeks ago.”

Yet another user who thought nothing could be done about the bump raved: “The way I’ve biked over this thing a hundred times and never once thought my city would do anything about it….that’s my f***ing mayor, man.”

Someone else commented: “Socialists that are running for office please take note: the big visions are important but most are ultimately out of reach. Stop doing model UN things and fix the potholes in your neighborhoods. It’s not sexy but it’s tangible – a step towards trusting future candidates.”

One more comment read: “So there’s this mayor who is directly impacting my quality of life for the better.” And then, there was also a person asking Mamdani to ” become Chicago’s next mayor and fix all these damn potholes for good PLEASEEE.”