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July 23, 2008
Boerum Place Median A Wrap
Several politicians and public officials turned out yesterday to celebrate the completion of the Boerum Place planted median. From left to right in this photo, you've got Joe Palmieri, DOT Borough Commissioner; John Dew, Community Board #2; Seth Pinsky, President of NYCEDC; Joe Chan, President of Downtown Brooklyn Partnership; David Yassky, Councilmember; Marty Markowitz, Borough President; Edolphus Towns, Congressmember; Carl Hum, President of Chamber of Commerce. The new median runs all the way from Atlantic Avenue to Fulton Street, and brings order what used to be one of the more hectic traffic spots in the Downtown area. The ride down this stretch is also a little smoother now, as the road was just repaved.
Boerum Place Getting Spruced Up [Brownstoner]
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Comments
i think the new median looks amazing. I drive that stretch frequently and there some big beautiful plants there, a few of them look almost tropical. Definately a major improvement, i hope they mantain it. great job.
Posted by: bowl of dicks at July 23, 2008 10:13 AM
I love that they've done this and hope the concept spreads to other areas. By the way, I couldn't help but notice how the politicials and officials are lined up almost perfectly in order of height, like they do in elementary school class photos, right down to Marty, who appears fortunate enough to have found a podium that doesn't require the use of a phone book to see over.
Posted by: Biff Champion at July 23, 2008 10:16 AM
Good Luck turning right or left from the center lane as you approach the Brooklyn Bridge because you can't. Guess you will be on your way to Manhattan...but thank god for those trees because they will be sucking up the extra Co2 emmissions that you will be spewing because you cannot turn left or right.
Posted by: billyboomer at July 23, 2008 10:24 AM
I hear no more about that site on upper right of photo. Red Hook Lane. Was being demapped and supposed major building for that corner. SO what happened?
Posted by: Petebklyn at July 23, 2008 10:28 AM
billyboomer, the new median is between atlantic and fulton, not near the brooklyn bridge...
Posted by: 1842 at July 23, 2008 10:32 AM
Is it just me, or are the sidewalks narrower than they were before? If so, bad tradeoff.
Posted by: zinka at July 23, 2008 10:40 AM
I know I know, I just want to complain about something.
Posted by: billyboomer at July 23, 2008 10:44 AM
Petebklyn, Red Hook Lane was demapped and Muss Development (Marriott hotel) continues to work on assembling a development site that includes property on both sides of the street. If he is successful, Red Hook Lane would disappear. Although this site was once considered to be the first to be redeveloped as a result of the rezoning of downtown Brooklyn in 2004, a project here is now not expected in the immediate future. I note that a bank (Commerce? Bank of America? It's red in any case.) felt comfortable about its long-term prospects to construct a new branch on Fulton Street between Red Hook Lane and Boerum Place.
Posted by: g man at July 23, 2008 10:55 AM
The sidewalks are actually wider!
Posted by: BH76 at July 23, 2008 11:08 AM
Billyboomer if you read brownstoner this(no left turns) was announced before they made the change here. It has always been no right turn from the central road way. It is also signed and there were big portable notice signs about no turns. You can in fact get off on the right after the tillery street entrance to the Bridge. It has made the movement much smoother except for those still making illegal turns.
Mostly the change has been hailed as a success except by those who can't stand change.
Posted by: smeyer418 at July 23, 2008 11:27 AM
Smeryer418, I love change. But if you enter the bridge from Adams St. At tillary you have no choice but to go straight onto the bridge, you cannot turn left onto Tillary, which is idiotic and if you want to turn rightonto Tillary you cannot do that because to turn right you have to enter the service road in front of the Marriot which is about 1/2 mile back on Adams. Not only does this confuse people who do not know the road it makes the service road more crowded in front of the hotel which is bad enough with hotel traffic. So in a sense Adams street is just an extension of the bridge all the way to the Marriot. This makes no sense to me, So maybe you are talking about the entrance to the bridge fron Tillary st. Which seems to work fine most of the time except for the slow poke drivers who have a hard time making the sharp turn onto the bridge. Of course it would help if the right turn arrow could also last more than 15 seconds.
Posted by: billyboomer at July 23, 2008 11:49 AM
Question:
DOT has installed medians on Vanderbilt Ave in prospect heights as well, but as of yet appears to have done nothing about actually planting anything in the medians which appear to be overrun by weeds in the last month or so. Anyone know whats going on there? Are they planning on doing anything with this stip? It could be a great streetscape improvement on Vandy if they manage to get a plant or two in there! Maybe even a tree!
Posted by: clintonhillbuyer at July 23, 2008 1:42 PM
I don't have any official word on the tree pits set in the raised median on Venderbilt but I do know it's too hot to plant right now. The planting seasons for trees are generally mid-March to mid-May and mid-October to mid-December, weather permitting of course.
Posted by: g man at July 23, 2008 2:09 PM
clintonhillybuyer, get used to certain neighborhoods getting token gestures and others getting showcase renovations.
I grew up in deep Brooklyn and this kind of lip service and inequity in public amenities is par for the course.
Posted by: Jack at July 23, 2008 2:11 PM
Lets also mention that the bike lane that used to end at Fulton has also been extended to Atlantic... for what it's worth.
Posted by: spnder at July 23, 2008 2:14 PM
Am I the only one confused by the pedestrian island that has appeared on Adams at the corner of Atlantic on the northbound side in front of the HOD?
The effect has been to create one lane for those turning left off Atlantic onto Adams and two lanes for those turning right off Adams. The first time I saw it was a couple of weeks ago and everytime I drive by, there are more tire tracks and skidmarks on it where cars have driven up on the thing. DOT put up one of those black and yellow striped signs on it to make it more obvious and that was also knocked down.
It was only three lanes of traffic before the median, and the lights were timed so that cars were not turning at the same time. Why exactly was $20k of cement needed when pedestrians only have to cross three lanes before they reach the median? The light is timed to allow pedestrians to make it across six lanes of traffic, so that even the elderly or those with strollers, small children etc should have been able to make it to the median.
Posted by: LC Arnett at July 23, 2008 3:06 PM
LC, the new raised median was not installed as a pedestrain refuge. The previously paint-only median was made more formal to physically separate the cars making turns on to northbound Adams Street from both directions. After the signal sequence was changed, as you note, cars used to crash into each other; now they crash into the median. I have heard that the Department of Transportation is going to paint a dashed line through the intersection to help drivers end up in the correct lane.
Posted by: g man at July 23, 2008 3:59 PM
this photo smells. if politicians spent half the time doing things as they spend taking credit for things we'd be much better off. median is great but for goodness sake. save the back patting for something significant.
Posted by: BrooklynLove at July 24, 2008 7:41 AM
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