DOT Planning Major Improvements Near Pier 6
The Department of Transportation has released a plan to improve pedestrian safety near Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 6, and a bunch of improvements are slated to be implemented on Columbia Street and Atlantic Avenue this summer. The upgrades include improving the Atlantic Avenue/Furman Street intersection by rerouting the bus turnaround, and adding pedestrian space and…
The Department of Transportation has released a plan to improve pedestrian safety near Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 6, and a bunch of improvements are slated to be implemented on Columbia Street and Atlantic Avenue this summer. The upgrades include improving the Atlantic Avenue/Furman Street intersection by rerouting the bus turnaround, and adding pedestrian space and crosswalks; improving signal timing and the “no right on red” sign at the BQE entrance on Atlantic Avenue to make it safer for pedestrians to cross; removing the greenway/bike path from the sidewalk on the west side of Columbia Street; adding a crosswalk across Columbia Street at the stop-light near the BQE entrance; and simplifying south-bound traffic on Columbia. You can view the entire plan here [PDF]. The schematic above shows the proposal for Atlantic Avenue and Furman Street; click through for a few more design proposals. Before construction begins, the DOT will present the designs at a Community Board 6 transportation meeting in order to solicit feedback from residents. The meeting is happening this Thursday (that’s tomorrow!) at 6:30 p.m. at Long Island College Hospital. It was just last week that there was word of the DOT’s plans to revamp the area around Pier One, particularly Old Fulton Street. Good news all around.
Proposal for Atlantic Ave and Furman Street
Proposal for Columbia Street bet. Atlantic and BQE Entrance
West Side of Pier 6 Proposal
I have little confidence in DOT.
Brooklyn’s traffic patterns are a mess and I don’t hear any talk of improvement. All the talk is about fees and tolls and surcharges.
This plan looks very complicated. It entails buses entering the park just where pedestrians are crossing and looping around hundreds of children and toddlers -have you been there on a Sunday? Hundreds of Orthodox families from Williamsburg go there with their many children. It is very crowded. Makes no sense to have buses going in there.
The park on pier 6 is ususally crowded, but on Sundays it is incredibly crowded. There really are hundreds of Orthodox families. Check it out. They, and I, and many others are trying to park in the One BBP public garage that is accessed from that one road. Often there is a line of black SUVs, holding many children each, backed up waiting to go into the garage. The buses are going to have to wait on those lines too.