Serious Accident on B’Bridge Ramp

By on June 14, 2008 2:00 pm in Downtown Brooklyn, News, Photos, Transportation

A three-car accident on the Brooklyn Bridge ramp to Tillary St. behind the Federal Court left two people injured, one seriously. It happened around 4:22 A.M. on the bridge’s Brooklyn-bound side. NYPD Highway Patrol conducted an accident investigation while traffic was diverted at Cadman Plaza. No information has yet been released on the cause of the accident or the identity of the victims.

UPDATE: The driver of the vehicle is a 48-year-old woman, who is listed in serious condition at Bellevue Hospital.  Police have determined that two other vehicles at the scene were not directly involved in the accident.

Photo by Marc Hermann for BHB.

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  • No One Of Consequence

    There really needs to be a no crossing sign, and or fence (like they do in Manhattan in places where they don’t want you to cross) at that yield sign as you come off the bridge and then head down Old Fulton.
    But, you’re right, many drivers are just a-holes.

  • nabeguy

    There is a sidewalk, and it does send mixed signals to pedestrians, especially those not familiar with the crossing, which in my opinion, should not exist at all. People making that sharp right turn off the bridge are 1. jockying for position on a two lane exit 2. trying to be mindful of traffic going north on CP that is coming in from practically behind them on the left 3. trying to beat the light at the proper crossing at CP and Prospect. This particular exit is really just a blip on the way to their ultimate destination, which is the BQE, where they can then resume a normal cruising speed of 60 mph. Either removal of the sidewalk or a fence seem like reasonable alternatives to the DOT fantasy that drivers flying off the bridge are going to yield to anything other than a tank if it’s in that crosswalk.

  • Dan

    I frequently drive by that offramp on CPW and have to give a light honk every time I go by to let drivers coming off the Bridge know that a car is coming (they rarely look left). Even slowing up myself, I’ve almost been in countless accidents. For starters, the yield sign should be a stop sign.

  • Weegee

    I would also like to see those Nerf-like, flexible bollards like they have on the Verrazano Bridge that prevents the center lane from (illegally and annoyingly) cutting over to the right lane at the last minute at the CPW exit.

  • Jen

    Something needs to be done about the FDR Drive entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge. Drivers cutting into the right lane at the last minute causes major amounts of traffic.

  • No One Of Consequence

    I regularly exit from the center lane if I’m going to Henry Street. But if I’m going to the right (DUMBO), I exit from the right lane. I always consider it the de facto way that exit works.

    I avoid the southbound FDR exit to the Brooklyn Bridge by going down to the next exit (Ferry Terminals, right before the tunnel), turning around, coming back up the FDR and then getting on the bridge ramp. Maybe a little slower/longer, but never spend any time waiting in the exit lane and getting cut off at the last second.

  • bornhere

    Interesting approach, no one. My strategy (?) is to get off just before the Bridge exit (wait a bit at the light), make a minor left, and then re-enter at the ramp, which sets me up in the right lane and avoids the crazy jockeying. I often see cars on the “designated” Bridge approach that are still there while I’m getting back on the Bridge, so there is no time issue (and we’re talking about minutes, anyway).
    I recall the good ol’ days :) of the studded Bridge roadway, when there was no posting about everyone exiting from the right lane. As they have things posted now, it’s totally counter-intuitive and awkward, especially since so many cars exiting from the center lane want to ultimately get over to Cadman and the BQE — all the signage (or maneuvering) does is force drivers into some preposterous criss-cross nonsense. I tend to stay in the center lane on the Bridge, deftly ooze right, and cross Cadman to Henry.
    (And of note is that the horrible accident that generated this thread was at Tillary, and we’re all focused on Cadman. Does anyone have opinions on the Tillary exits?)

  • Nabe person

    Only in New would the exit from the Brooklyn Bridge leading to a major highway not be limited access. Yes the Peds have the right of way but they don’t normally get it. People go through red lights don’t stop at stop signs so a marked crosswalk is little help to a ped…

  • No One Of Consequence

    Depends where you’re going, but sometimes the Tilary exit is just as good as waiting for the excruciatingly long light CPW.

    Where do you get off just before the bridge exit? I used to get off at the South St. exit (I think that’s what it’s called) and then drive along under the FDR and get on from behind Police Plaza. But driving under the FDR is no fun.

    Dan, you’re right.. no one pays attention to that yield sign. I’ve had cabs honk at me for not letting them in just so they could move up 10 feet to wait at the next light. And all I want to do is get to the parking lot on Washington St.

  • bornhere

    No One – My explanation was horrible. I do exit the FDR at the Bridge, but I stay right, down to the roadway to the light (the formal onramp is now above and to the left), and then make a left and a quick right back onto the Bridge. It might sound nuts, but it avoids sparring with other drivers to choose a lane. It makes it a little easier to end up in the right lane on the Bridge (where I stay until past midspan, move to the center, and then make the “illegal” crossing of the lines to exit at CP to Middagh to Henry). Exiting to CPW from the right lane is, to me, nuts, since so many drivers do the center lane off the Bridge to get into the right lane of the fork — if they’re trying to get right and I’m trying to get left, it causes problems for all. I think. Rereading this makes the whole thing sound ridiculously Magellan-like, but it seems to work for me.