Times: Squibb Park Pedestrian Bridge Will Be Fixed

By on July 14, 2016 12:03 am in brooklyn bridge park, News

The “bouncy” pedestrian bridge connecting Squibb Park and Brooklyn Bridge Park, closed for the past two years because it bounced and swayed too much, “should reopen next spring” according to “[p]ark officials” quoted in this New York Times story. According to Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation President Regina Myer the bridge will be less bouncy–an engineer who studied the bridge’s problems and designed a solution is quoted in the Times as saying it will be about a half as bouncy as before–but that safety is the primary consideration. The Times notes that the cost of the repair has yet to be determined, but that the BBPC has a suit underway against the designers and constructors of the bridge.

Photo: C. Scales for BHB

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  • BananaTuesday

    The only reason they haven’t fixed anything — and probably the reason they shut it down in the first place — is the construction. The construction surrounding the bridge presents an ‘annoyance’ of safety considerations, which would slow time-to-completion, and delay time-to-income on that real estate.

    Simple as that, and it’s a shame the delay is positioned as anything else.

  • Dalvec

    Will the reopening of the bridge lessen the pedestrian traffic on Joralemon since it will serve as another (closer) route to the 2/3 from Pier 2?

  • AbeLincoln

    Agreed. How convenient that the bridge will be “fixed” just as construction is ending.

  • Reggie

    And your evidence of this claim is, what? Are you saying that BBPC’s lawsuit against HNTB is just a cover-up?

  • Concerned

    It just means that the north heights is now screwed, as well.

  • Jorale-man

    Banana’s theory may have some merit. I suspect that, at the very least, BBP dragged its feet before pressing for a fix. Knowing that the Pierhouse construction was going on, the park officials may have looked the other way for many months before filing the suit.

  • BananaTuesday

    Zero evidence; pure conspiracy theorizing :)

    But still, rather convenient timing.

  • Andrew Porter

    Joralemon Street’s gain will be the north BH’s loss. The BHA, other elected officials, and individuals should make sure that police presence is increased to counter any possibilities of vandalism, graffiti, etc. Alas, the basketball courts are much closer to the bouncy bridge than they are to Joralemon Street.

  • peterbrooklyn

    Amen.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    Your assertion is frivolous. There is no reason the bridge would need protection according to current construction safety code, as it is far enough away from the buildings. Also, there was no violation from the DOB regarding the bridge. You can look this up on the BIS at the DOB site. Also, I personally realized something was wrong with the bridge when I last walked over it, a few days before it was closed.

  • rss

    Ditto.

  • DIBS

    The timing is convenient.

  • DIBS

    I agree with you here.

  • AbeLincoln

    Refresh my memory – why wasn’t it fixed within a reasonable timeframe? It’s been years… Not weeks or months.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    The bridge was closed due to it becoming increasingly more bouncy and it started to lean slightly to the north. The designers first said it just needed some adjustments, many months passed and they were unable to correct the problem. It became clear the design of th bridge was flawed thus the BBPC sued the original designer and hired another engineering firm to find a solution. Apparently one has been found and an attempt to correct the problems will be made. What do you consider a “reasonable time frame”? when you clearly know nothing of construction or engineering.

  • AbeLincoln

    Except that more than two years is plenty of time to “fix a bridge”. When did BBP “hire the new firm”? I think it was earlier this year. And if I recall, they’ve never given us a straight answer. I’ve also never seen anyone working on the bridge. Ever.

  • wwc

    If you believe all this I have a bridge nearby you might be interested in.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    I am a construction professional. Yes two years may be enough time to fix the bridge. but first one has to figure out whats wrong with it. I this case, the original designer couldn’t even figure it out. Then a second engineering team is hired to correct an inherently flawed design and implement it to an existing structure. No easy task given the radical, one-off design of the Squibb Park Bridge. In my opinion the should scrap the flexible center span and replace it with a rigid one.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    What do you know?

  • wwc

    Sounds like a lot of assumptions with no first hand knowledge.

  • gatornyc

    And what facts and/or experience are you bringing to the discussion?

  • Teresa

    I live in the North Heights and I can’t wait for it to be re-opened. Walking down the hill isn’t a big deal, but I like transversing the bridge down into the park.

  • StudioBrooklyn

    I’m also a fan of the bridge. It’s fun to walk on, architecturally interesting, and breaks the monotony of entering and exiting the park via the streets.

    We can anticipate that its opponents will suggest that the bridge contributes to park traffic-related crime in the north Heights, but that seems like a dubious claim to me without empirical evidence. I see the bouncy bridge’s closure (which I attribute to shady backroom dealings between the developer, the city, and the contractors*) and park-related crime being two separate issues.

    *I’ve conceded in the past that I don’t have hard evidence toward this suspicion, so I’m only putting it forward as such.

  • gc

    I’m pretty sure that I remember at least a couple of incidents in the north heights when the bridge was open. Overturned planters up and down a few blocks. No?

  • Concerned

    Teresa and StudioBrooklyn won’t acknowledge a crime unless a) they’ve been the victim themselves, b) the crime has been reported in the news, and c) the crime has been put into statistics that are edged into a large stone hanging from the Brooklyn bridge.

  • StudioBrooklyn

    No incidents—period—since closure and we’ve got a conversation.

  • Teresa

    I would appreciate if you could participate in these conversations without the personal criticism. We have different perspectives, but I don’t understand why you regularly lob gratuitous shots at me. I don’t do that to you, and I’d appreciate similar consideration. Thanks.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    Ha. Read the NYT article.

  • StudioBrooklyn

    I think you just have something against bouncing, perhaps you didn’t get bounced enough when you were a baby. Babies love the bouncy bridge. What do you have against babies?

  • Concerned

    Respectfully, you continue to ignore your neighbors’ first person experiences of events. It is your bullheaded advocacy for the BBP that leads you to insult and ignore your neighbors actual experiences. Every time you ignore a terrible experience by a neighbor and advocate for the BBP without acknowledging the bad experience, you imply that neighbor is a liar and YOU personally insult them and the effects of their bad experience. So I will continue to call you out on your poor and biased advocacy of the BBP. Be well.

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