Park Footbridge Will Cost $4.9 Million

By on May 5, 2011 10:19 pm in brooklyn bridge park

Designer Ted Zoli’s wooden bridge connecting Squibb Park to Brooklyn Bridge Park will cost $4.9 million to construct:

Brooklyn Paper: The new plans come after a bumpy battle for funding. In 2009, Mayor Bloomberg trimmed $8 million from Brooklyn Bridge Park’s construction budget, killing the footbridge.

But the following year, the City Council and Borough President Markowitz allocated enough money for the footbridge, which is scheduled to open next summer.

Regina Myer, president of Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation, is happy they did.

“It is a spectacular new park amenity,” she said.

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  • God

    Marty is out of a job.

  • Boba Fett

    Bridges are good things.

  • Damn expensive

    Five million smackeroos?

    Someone’s getting rich off of this contract.

    It’s really not necessary. A proper crossing at Furman and Doughty would be just as useful.

  • AL

    Will it be convenient for people who live in the Heights? Doesn’t look to be. Great for people who live, say, in Concord Village, or coming from other parts east of the Heights but looks very indirect for locals.

  • David G

    It needs to be said that it would make more sense to have a bridge connecting say… Montague street to the park, rather than having a bridge already near one of entrances.

  • Eddy de Lectron

    I agree, much more sense. There was a proposal for a “Grand Staircase connecting the park to the Promenade, but for some reason it got scrapped?

  • harumph

    The park doesn’t seem to even have enough funds for proper park personel overseeing things, let alone monies to finish the park…why use this amount on some (ugly) foot bridge which will carry its own issues?

  • Wrennie

    I could see if there was a huge park budget–sure, fine, build a bridge that doesn’t really add much value to the park, just for the heck of it. But there’s obviously not. This $4.9mm could be put to much better use in another aspect of the park.

  • dog lover

    I agree with Wrennie, Harumph, Eddy and David. Also, how much money will it take every year to maintain a wood bridge?

  • Matt

    It will be great when a truck tries to drive under it and hit the bottom of the bridge.

  • David on Middagh

    Actually, as long as the railings are low enough to be slightly dangerous, it will be a cool bridge!

  • bklyn20

    I like that it is in wood even if
    it resembles an Eagle Scout project on steroids. The cost relative to the utility is a question though. We already have a few items in BBP that are modern-day Victorian “follies.” I worry that this bridge could be another one of them.

  • Still here

    David G – Good luck on a Montague Street access, but agree with the sentiment.

  • nabeguy

    Consider this the path of least resistance, so to speak. Given that the old Squibb Park offers the lowest access point directly to the park over Furman Street, it makes sense from an engineering standpoint. The fact that it entails going down a switchback ramp that’s almost equivalent to the length of the Columbia Heights hill, plus a walk to the far corner of the park does seem to rule it out as a practical application of funds. Unless they do something truly spectacular in the Squibb park itself to draw people in, I think this bridge will rarely be used as a portal to BBP.

  • Sal G.

    This is really a waste. No one is going to use it. A grand staircase (think Rome’s Spanish Steps) would have been used as a gathering place and probably a highlight for the park. Can we go back to that?

  • ABC

    This is what I hate about the “need” for housing in the park. They need the money bcs they spend so MUCH on this stuff. Honestly, can’t we work some of this into a Phase 2? It would be different if this provided access in the middle but by the time you to Squibb, you really are almost there anyway.

    You know what else bugs me, it’s early May and it’s already so damn sunny is the sand village, water park areas that little kids can’t even be there fromt 10am til 4pm unless they’re in head to toe sun suits.. Shade sails would have cost nothing.

    I just think there’s not enough common sense in this plan.

  • resident

    I think it all depends on where the bridge ends. The renderings make it appear as if after crossing Furman, the bridge will turn to the right and let pedestrians off on the southern part of Pier 1. This makes no sense, access from Pier 1 is adequately served by walking down Columbia Heights.

    If the bridge were routed towards Pier 2, it would be much more useful. Even with the switchback nature of the Squibb park entrance, the bridge route would provide a much shorter route from the Heights to Piers 2 and 3.

    Either way, I’m not sure this is the best use of funds while completion of the rest of the park is still very much in doubt.

  • x

    I sense someone is getting a kickback from the contractors.

    This is totally unnecessary and waste of tax dollars better spent elsewhere.

  • Monty

    The entire park is unnecessary. We’re building it because it’s nice and people will enjoy it. Ditto for the bridge.

  • ABC

    Actually, we’re NOT building anything bcs we don’t have the funds. Thus the idea is, maybe if we cut some of this back, we’d be able to build it and people would enjoy it.

  • Hicks on Hicks

    A waste. This bridge is redundant with the Doughty St entrance.

  • michael

    This is totally waste of money. People can just walk down few steps to get to the entrance. Why build a bridge for lazy people. How about put up a sign with clear direction and cost 100.00.

  • Eric Laimins

    $5 million bucks? No wonder the City has money problems.

    Everyone and their dog knows that it could be built for no more than a 1/3 the price.

    Ah, aren’t campaign “contributions” a wonderful thing? They just keep on paying off and paying off :(

  • nabeguy

    I think the funds should be re-directed to the playground area itself as an off-shoot of the BBP. I truly doubt that anyone standing on the crest of Columbia Heights and having to make the choice between going down the hill towards the Brooklyn Bridge versus taking the Furman Street bridge is going to choose the latter. One’s an icon, the other’s a zircon.

  • Brooklyn Tea

    Another fine example of how the city burns through tax payer money and corruption that plagues our government. Whose uncle, brother, cousin, nephew, etc has been awarded that contract. $5m for that ridiculously ugly bridge. Wood? Really?

    Gives us a break already!

  • T.K. Small

    This afternoon I rolled up Columbia Heights, on the Jehovah Witness side. Counting the squares of cement, it is approximately 400 feet from Doughty Street to the crest of the hill. Very roughly speaking, this works out to $12,250 per foot. I think I would prefer that $4.9 million be spent on gravel abatement.

  • Matthew Parker

    Or keeping teachers on the job.

  • Jeffrey j Smith

    Looking at the design of the “bridge”, something…..wait I got it!!!!
    this is NOT supposed to be a foot bridge, look at the web below
    the span…NOW I understand this is supposed to be…..a hand
    bridge, sure look, “people” are supposed to proceeed HAND
    OVER HAND.to the park….

    I Wonder who that might appeal to……

    This is an age of madness, uglyness and banality….

  • David on Middagh

    Actually, I wouldn’t mind a taking a nice brachiation in the park now and then.

  • Winstion Smith

    It figures someone with the moniker “Brooklyn Tea” would have such an ignorant opinion. What’s wrong with wood?

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