Group Hug, Everyone: Girding for a More Crowded Brooklyn

Over the last ten years in Central Brooklyn and its surrounding neighborhoods, housing and commercial development has accelerated at lightening speed.

As residents squeeze in tighter to make room for these changes, the New York City Department of Transportation is making safety and mobility improvements, particularly in the high-traffic areas of Atlantic Yards and downtown Brooklyn

Details about these changes to the area at and around the intersections of Flatbush, Atlantic and Fourth avenues are posted on FCRC’s Atlantic Yards Web site. The changes are being made in accordance with steps detailed in the project’s 2006 Environmental Impact Statement.

Beginning July 31, 2011, the City began reviewing these measures and will continue to monitor these steps after they are implemented.

The most significant of these changes include:

In the Atlantic Terminal Area

• Improved pedestrian safety and mobility at Flatbush and Fourth Avenues, eliminating the high-conflict turn onto Hanson/Ashland Place and creating a signal phase exclusively for pedestrians.
• Started the installation of pedestrian countdown signals on Flatbush from Grand Army Plaza to Fulton Street and restricted left turns from Flatbush onto side streets to improve safety and reduce congestion
• Retimed signals on Flatbush during off-peak periods to discourage dangerous speeding
• Converted Third Avenue to one-way northbound between Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues, and improved Third Avenue’s connection to Flatbush
• Added new median and sidewalk extensions on Flatbush Avenue Extension as part of NYC Economic Development Corp. streetscape project north of DeKalb Avenue and also made improvements to the Fulton Street Mall and Livingston Street that speed buses and improve the pedestrian environment.
• Converted Lafayette Avenue to one-way eastbound travel between Flatbush and Fulton avenues, simplifying the intersections of Lafayette at Flatbush Avenue and Fulton Street.
• Improved pedestrian crossing conditions with sidewalk extensions at 45 intersections, including several on Atlantic Avenue.
• At Boerum Place, an EDC streetscape project extended the landscape median south of Fulton Street to provide pedestrian refuges. Pedestrian safety improvements included an exclusive pedestrian crossing phase and an additional pedestrian island at Boerum Place at Atlantic
• On Vanderbilt Avenue, calmed a high-speed, high-crash corridor with a landscaped median, turn bays and bicycle lanes. Improved safety at Atlantic Avenue by restricting the southbound and eastbound left turns.

In Downtown Brooklyn:

• The second phase of the Downtown Brooklyn Traffic Calming project will include sidewalk extensions at 55 intersections, including several along Third and Fourth Avenues.
• The Tillary Street/Brooklyn Bridge Gateway Reconstruction re-imagines Tillary Street as a “complete street,” building on safety and traffic improvements to the intersection of Tillary Street and Adams Street and adding pedestrian and bike improvements
• The North Flatbush Triangle Parks and Pedestrian Safety Enhancements will include the reconstruction of four landscaped islands to provide improved public space, along with pedestrian neckdowns on the street from Bergen Street to Plaza Streets.

As a resident, how do you feel about these recent changes? Do you think they have done much to improve traffic and mobility?

What other changes you would like to see to help ease the growing street traffic, foot traffic and crowds in your neighborhood?