Brooklyn Bridge Makeover Will Cause Lots of Traffic

By on April 28, 2010 8:05 am in News

The Brooklyn Paper reports on the traffic that will be caused by the four year paint job and renovation of the Brooklyn Bridge:

Brooklyn Paper: A mammoth renovation project that begins soon will close the Manhattan-bound lanes of the historic span at least 24 weekends and many weeknights, creating intense congestion as cars jam the Manhattan Bridge, the closest alternative.

“The traffic will increase tremendously,” predicted Capt. Vanessa Kight, an executive officer at the 84th Precinct.

It’ll all start in June, when the Department of Transportation begins a $500-million project that includes a new paint job, deck resurfacing, and rehabilitation and widening of the bridge’s ramps and approaches — a project that promises to reduce congestion (eventually) for the 100,000 drivers who cross the span every day.

For an up to date schedule of closures e-mail brooklynbridgeoutreach@gmail.com or call (347) 646-0876.

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  • my2cents

    As I think many have mentioned, widening the ramps and approaches to the bridge is going to be a major benefit in the long term. I am so glad they are doing it, even though it is going to SUCK. Is this going to coincide at all with the refurbishment of the BQE shelves below the promenade that was being discussed?

  • ABC

    think it will only close a lane or two on the weekends, not ALL lanes.

  • epc

    I can’t find the link on the DOT site at the moment, but yes, all Manhattan bound lanes will be closed on the 24 weekends mentioned, as well as frequent overnight closures during the week. Brooklyn bound lanes will never be 100% closed but may be restricted to one lane overnight.

  • http://www.flashlightworthybooks.com Flashlight Worthy

    Don’t forget the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. I expect these closures will teach people the speedy benefit of said tunnel. For those heading to the West Side Highway, the time spent getting to the tunnel is more or less equal to the time spent cutting over from the bridge to the West Side Highway. Yes, there are tolls, but time is money, no?

  • justaneighbor

    Could the online version of the BP make their font ANY smaller?

    Here’s more: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/bridges/brooklyn_bridge.shtml

  • http://loureads.com Lou

    Are they doing anything to the walking path or just the road surfaces? I would hate to be forced to ride my bike into Chinatown. Its crazy over there.

  • JM

    Well the wider ramps sure sound good, except for the fact that the lanes are also needed to facilitate bridge tolls (which is why Bloomy installed those detectors overhead to little fanfare this year on the bridge, which are testing phase for EZ pass devices).
    You didn’t think this administration would do ANYTHING to ease auto travel for the drivers sake now did ya?

  • Andrew

    Instead of 4 years of disrupted travel over the bridge, would it be possible for DOT to completely the close the bridge for some amount of time and finish the project more quickly? If all 30 days of closure were lumped together in a single month, say, over the summer, might that end up being less of a disruption than the years of delay and traffic?

  • milton

    the bridge is fine, the ramps are fine. They keep doing these projects because they can get the federal dollars not because we need it or want it. This will be a huge mess and will increase air pollution from the backups. Your tax dollars at work creating unneeded and unwanted “improvements”. Why don’t they finish the BQE repairs. another boondoggle. Why is is that of all the world-class cities only New York is perpetually ripping up and re-constructing its major arteries without any end ever in sight? I sometimes think the entire city is secretly run by the concrete business mafia families.

  • Gary E

    The last time they did this they replaced the entire roadbed – not just resurfacing – and repainted the whole thing. The community was invited up to see it up close. It went faster than expected, but did not include entrance or ramp work. It seems that the bridge is on these 5 year cycles – the recabling and painting, then the BQE off ramp and the ffl plaza and islands, then new road bed and painting. One thing – don’t park your car under it while they paint – very messy.

  • nabeguy

    i guess I should start checking under the city rug where major issues like this get swept. We’re given a month’s notice that the BB will be closed for 24 weekends and there’s no public input on the decision? WTF? The Roebling’s built this bridge to last a thousand years, but the city seems to find a need to “refurbish” it every 10, disrupting the lives of ten of thousands of tax-payers. And what’s with the fact that this is a one-way plan that only impacts Brooklynites? Why do the Manhattan-bound lanes escape this work? Given the downturn in the development market, this project has the stink of a make-work payoff to the unions that put Bloomy back in for a 3rd term.

  • milton

    They have been rebuilding and repaving and reinforcing and
    re-rebuildimg for twentyfive years. Meanwhile a direct connection from the bridge to the BQE has never been considered. If the aggravation resulted in improvements we could put up with it but its all boondoggle, it is corruption. No real improvements are planned, just a lot of dollars spent and a lot of aggravation.
    In NY anything that is annoying and disruptive and a hardship for the public has got to be a good thing -right?

  • milton

    where is our hundred-year-old BHA in all this? why aren’t they all over this major issue? They should ask the State DOT why exactly are they rebuilding the ramps? again? How did they get it wrong the last time they rebuilt them? Is this just a make-work project? The BHA should be on top of that rather than protesting the construction of a new building on a vacant lot in DUMBO. At the very least we can show the state officials that we are alive in Brooklyn Heiights and ready to fight for our interests. I fear the BHA has become too much of a junior league type organization. too polite, too ladylike. The DOT needs asskickers to keep them honest.

  • epc

    Uh, it’s been posted in this here very blog at least twice before, as well as in the Brooklyn Paper and other papers.

    The ENTIRE bridge is getting redone. Only the Manhattan bound lanes will be 100% closed on weeknights and the 24 weekends. Brooklyn bound lanes will be restricted but not closed.

    As far as whether or not the Bridge needs the work, the paint job is mandated (I believe) to remove lead based paint. Concrete railings have been crumbling on the Brooklyn bound side for years (those Jersey barriers along Fulton/over the BQE? Ever notice that there’s no bridge there on the other side?)

    The first DOT hearing I read about was in 2006. Now, maybe you think that they’re moving too quickly on this and would like another five years of community “input”, I’d prefer they just get the project going.