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August 20, 2009

Kent Avenue Make-Over Begins

As promised, work has begun on the new and debatably improved Kent Avenue. Workers have stripped the section between Broadway and Clymer, preparing it for new asphalt (motorists and cyclists beware). Halden over at Brooklyn11211 asks, as many have, if the new one-way Kent will actually be an improvement: he mentions that since they are ripping up a recently paved road, they should be installing the actual greenway, but they aren't. More importantly, he adds, Kent Avenue will still be a busy throughfare, and people will need to cross it: "If DOT is not using this opportunity to put in traffic lights at at least three or four intersections between Grand and North 14th, they just don't get it." According to the DOT website, there are no plans to install more traffic lights, although the outline calls for "new signs and markings" in late September and October.
Kent Repaving Starts [Brooklyn11211]
Kent Avenue Goes One-way Today [Brownstoner]
The Kent Avenue Conundrum [Brownstoner]




Posted by jscheff at 10:00 AM | Comments (18)
Categories: Streets, Williamsburg

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Comments

Idiots.

Kent was fine the way it was.

Just wasting more precious tax dollars on yet another feel good social engineering project.

Posted by: therealflyintheointment at August 20, 2009 10:04 AM

I almost got killed on Kent Tuesday night while riding my bike over this. Gravel + Contact Lenses = Bad

I think making Kent one way and restoring parking will slow down the cars and making crossing the street easier for those residents who live there.

Posted by: dirty_hipster at August 20, 2009 10:09 AM

Wait a minute, I thought the whole reason they were doing this was to put in that section of the greenway?

Posted by: werner at August 20, 2009 10:28 AM

That greenway will never be built.

Posted by: dirty_hipster at August 20, 2009 10:33 AM

I thought the whole reason they were doing it was Isaac Abraham, not because its a good idea or because they were putting in a greenway.

Posted by: dittoburg at August 20, 2009 10:39 AM

This is a major milestone and breakthrough for this critical brooklyn waterfront "greenway" connector!...and for all of NYC. The negotiations have finally concluded. The configuration being implemented by DOT this week is holding the footprint for the permanent greenway. Design will start next year for the entire 14 mile route(including Kent). At long last, government and the overwhelming majority of community members have come together to support a new vision that puts health, non-motorized transportation, recreation and waterfront access first- in one compelling package. Congrats to Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, who has never wavered in her support for this project that has been a decade in the making!!!

Posted by: homesweethome at August 20, 2009 1:20 PM

Abraham is taking the credit (and claiming it was all his idea, which it wasn't), but as homesweethome says, the real credit lies with Velazquez.

Posted by: WBer at August 20, 2009 2:57 PM

Who is this guy Kent, and is this anything like a Marsha Brady Makeover?

Posted by: brighton beoch at August 20, 2009 2:58 PM

bb, whoever replaced your Poland Spring w/ vodka needs to switch out my watercooler, too.

*greg*

Posted by: bitter retort at August 20, 2009 3:04 PM

*greg*

She's on her way.

BB

Posted by: brighton beoch at August 20, 2009 3:08 PM

So how long will the folks on the southside of McCarren Park have to tolerate this deadly and half assed interim plan that diverts trucks and cars down the detour at N 14th to N11th and over 5 busy avenues? 1 year ? 5 years? It's crap that Bloomberg thinks will get him reelected and claim his green legacy. Isaac Abraham IS taking all the "credit" . I guess I will blame Nydia Velazquez too. The modern day civil engineer means something entirely different today. The DOT might as well be a p.r. firm. Lame.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/kent_ave.pdf

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/keep-kent-avenue-2-ways

Posted by: sosnowski at August 21, 2009 6:48 PM

sosnowski, the revised plan no longer involves N14/N11. it uses Greenpoint Ave to McGuinness to the BQE.

Posted by: zinka at August 22, 2009 2:20 AM

Is there a pdf from the DOT with this design on it , or is this gossip?

Posted by: sosnowski at August 22, 2009 11:47 AM

See http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/kent_ave_trucks09.pdf -- as well as page 7 of http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/kent_ave.pdf

Posted by: zinka at August 22, 2009 8:33 PM

Your map reading skills need a little work. It is one way clearly starting at N 14th street according to the Aug 7 , 09 pdf from the DOT you linked.

Posted by: sosnowski at August 22, 2009 10:00 PM

Thanks for the snide comment.

Yes, of course it is one way starting at N 14th.

But the point is that in the original proposal, DOT was going to designate N 14th and Wythe as truck routes. That is no longer in the plan, nor is the whole N 14/Wythe/N 11 redirect. Instead, DOT will direct trucks along Greenpoint/McGuinness/BQE.

Posted by: zinka at August 23, 2009 10:19 PM

Oh Jesus. Can somebody explain this to Zinka without implying that a truck or car that is going southbound on Franklin street to Kent avenue and reaches the spot where the one-way commences (or ends) is not going to get to miraculously levitate over five avenues and find themselves back at Meeker or McGuinness. They have to get "out" somehow. They won't be barring trucks from turning down Greenpoint avenue to Franklin to Kent to get stuck down in the booby trap at N14th.

Posted by: sosnowski at August 24, 2009 9:43 AM

Your dismissive attitude is really not helping matters.

Obviously the signage has to be farther north than N 14th to inform the truckers. Will some trucks take Wythe? Sure. Some do today. Will they usually make that mistake twice? Probably not.

The point here is that DOT's suggested route is no longer N14/Wythe/N11, they are no longer designating N14 and Wythe as truck routes, and that will help things a lot. They listened, and they made changes accordingly.

Posted by: zinka at August 24, 2009 10:21 PM

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