Brooklyn Bridge Manhattan-Bound Traffic Closures Scheduled

By on August 14, 2010 12:46 pm in News, Transportation

Brooklyn Heights Association President Jane McGroarty provides us with information concerning planned closures of the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan-bound vehicular traffic (Brooklyn-bound lanes and the pedestrian and bike path will not be affected; while work is being done on the side of the Bridge that holds the Brooklyn-bound lanes, Brooklyn-bound traffic will be re-routed over the Manhattan-bound side) while painting and repair work is done on the Bridge. Closures will begin on Monday, August 23, and will follow this schedule:

Sunday evenings through Friday mornings: closure will begin at 11:00 PM and end at 6:00 AM.

Saturdays: closure will begin at 12:01 AM and end at 7:00 AM.

Sunday mornings: closure will begin at 12:01 AM and end at 9:00 AM.

It is estimated that these closures will continue until sometime in 2014, when the work is expected to be completed. You can get a downloadable brochure that shows closure dates and times as well as detour routes here. Construction work on the Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges, as well as on Brooklyn and Manhattan streets used as detour routes, will be embargoed during closure times.

Addendum: According to the linked brochure, for up to 24 weekends during the four year construction period, there will be full 53 hour (11:00 PM Friday to 6:00 AM Monday) closures of the Manhattan bound lanes. In addition, single lanes in either direction may be closed periodically during off-peak daytime hours to allow preparatory work. Day-to-day information can be obtained through brooklynbridgeoutreach AT gmail DOT com or by calling 347-647-0876.

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  • nabeguy

    3 years? They could build a new bridge in that time, a la Willis Ave. pre-fab. Glad to see that most of the closures are late-night. The early reports on this project were a bit fuzzy and sounded to me like it would be closed for the entire weekend.

  • RobtN

    Uh, actually I think the bridge is going to be closed both ways overnight, and according to the PDF, the Manhattan-bound lanes will be closed for 53 hours during up to 24 weekends over the next three/four years, as per the PDF:

    Q: When will traffic lanes be closed?
    A: Most of the construction will occur during overnight hours:
    • On Weeknights: Beginning at 11pm and ending at 6am
    • On Saturdays: Beginning at midnight and ending at 7am
    • On Sundays: Beginning at midnight and ending at 9am.
    During the daytime, single lane closures may occur in each direction during off-peak hours, to allow for preparatory work by
    the Contractor.
    For up to 24 weekends over a four-year period, there will be full 53-hour closures in the Manhattan-bound direction, only.
    During these weekends, the Manhattan-bound lanes will be closed from 11pm Friday night until 6am Monday morning. There
    will be no weekend closures during special events such as the New York Marathon, the Five Boro Bike Tour, or the Holiday
    Construction Embargo.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com Claude Scales

    According to the DOT release attached to the BHA’s e-mail, the overnight closures will affect the Manhattan bound lanes only. While the PDF doesn’t specifically make this qualification concerning the regular (as opposed to the 53 hour) closures, it does refer only to planning for Manhattan bound traffic because of closures. How repair work and painting can be done on both sides of the Bridge without closing the Brooklyn-bound lanes is perplexing to me, but it seems it can. I’ve e-mailed a query to the DOT about this.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com Claude Scales

    As an addendum to my previous comment, I’ve now received a very prompt reply to my query. The ever-vigilant Sabrina Lau of DOT writes:

    “We are not closing Brooklyn-bound traffic at all. It is only Manhattan-bound traffic that is detoured to other crossings. Please see the attached Important Notice that was issued on Friday to my notification network. I will add you to this list.

    “To get a little more technical, the entire bridge will be worked on throughout the project; however, when we are working on the south roadway, where Brooklyn-bound traffic usually travels, Brooklyn-bound traffic will be routed over the north roadway instead. Essentially, a driver heading to Brooklyn will always be able to get to Brooklyn, even during overnight closures. However, a driver wanting to access Manhattan after 11pm on weeknights, and midnight on weekends, will have to use a different bridge or tunnel. In the morning, both lanes will be reopened.”

  • RobtN

    Claude, thanks for the clarifications. I had the same reaction as you – why close only half the bridge if you’re painting the whole thing?

  • http://bull Henry

    By doing it only piecemeal each day it takes years. Figure two hours to set up and an hour to close down leaves only five hours of actual work done most days.

    After the L.A. earth quake in 1994, major roadways were completely closed. It took five-six montghs to reconstruct them working 24/7 and without having to set aside time to re=open partially.

    We could absorb the pain of a total closure by rerouting traffic to get the work done in a few months but instead our leaders give us a plan where we have some total and pafrtial closures over three plus years.

  • Arch Stanton

    Yes, they should just shut it down completely for a few months and get it over with…. it would be a lot cheaper too…