As previously reported, one of the access paths being proposed by city planners to Brooklyn Bridge Park is an underground access tunnel leading from the Clark Street subway station. With a pricetag of up to $50 million, one can only hope that the project would include major aesthetic improvements to the station's Clark Street arcade.
NY Post: Subway Eyed for Bridge Park: The planned Brooklyn Bridge Park could wind up with its own subway station.
A team of transportation consultants is studying how best to improve access to the proposed 85-acre waterfront park in Brooklyn Heights, which is expected to be completed by 2012.
Among the more innovative ideas being looked at is a plan to create an underground access tunnel running 1,050 feet from the existing Clark Street subway station at Henry Street on the 2 and 3 lines to the planned park at Furman Street.
"I think most people agree that a Brooklyn Bridge Park subway station providing New Yorkers direct access to the park is a great idea, it's just a question of whether it's feasible," said Hank Gutman, chairman of the Downtown Brooklyn Waterfront Local Development Corp., which hired traffic consultant Samuel Schwartz's firm to conduct the study.
Such a subway connection is expected to cost $30 million to $50 million.
Update: The Brooklyn Eagle reports that the BBP endeavor has so much in common with the BQE cantilever renovation project that they'll have to work in tandem to achieve their objectives:
As a public meeting was being held yesterday evening to discuss access improvements to Brooklyn Bridge Park, the planning group learned that hard work has been joined by serendipity.
The state Department of Transportation (DOT) has made the first moves toward the long-awaited rebuilding of the traffic-packed, two-deck BQE cantilever that supports the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. The DOT has hired several consultants for this challenging project, and it turns out three of the key firms are also consultants to the Downtown Brooklyn Waterfront LDC.
The three are Sam Schwartz PLLC, Halcrow, and Daniel Frankfurt. The state has indicated that the rebuilding project will definitely go through a public process, with meetings probably beginning in mid-year 2007.
Those involved with the park access study believe this means there will be critical coordination between the cantilever project and the building of Brooklyn Bridge Park, as well as changes in ways and means to get to the new park.
Brooklyn Papers adds more information on how plans might call for the cantilever under the Promenade to be enclosed to reduce noise.
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