Eyes on the Street: Scenes From Flatbush Avenue

Flatbush Avenue and Prospect Place, southeast corner. Photos: Ian Dutton

Thanks to Ian Dutton for these great shots from Flatbush Avenue, where pedestrians are being allotted more space on five side streets from Prospect Park to Atlantic Avenue.

The materials are designed to be temporary, but it’s remarkable what a little paint and plastic can accomplish. According to Ian, crossing distances at Prospect Place and Sterling Place have been reduced by 50 percent. Not bad for a few hours’ work.

Flatbush at Park Place and Carlton Avenue

Flatbush Avenue at Sterling Place
Flatbush at Bergen Street
  • 78th Precinct Officer

    This is really beautiful. How soon before I can park my car there?

  • Anonymous

    Anything happening on the Northeast side of Flatbush and Bergan (site of the gorilla temporary lane separators)? 

  • Albert

    I want to move back to Brooklyn!

  • Ian Dutton

    @ Geck: There are no changes at that corner as part of this pedestrian safety project.  However, CB8’s Transportation Committee OK’d a letter to DOT requesting that they present a plan for permanent separators for the bike lane, in the vein of the “guerrilla lane”. There are some details to work out but I am hopeful.

  • James

    I love all these improvements, but sometimes it gets frustrating that all we can do in NYC — for years and years and years — is put paint and planters down. These should be made PERMANENT much more quickly — it’s very easy to do if you look at London’s work pre- and post-Olympics.

  • Anonymous

    There are some big capital improvements coming to Flatbush (next year?) that address the funky, almost-derelict pedestrian triangles, and DOT is going to make these curb extensions more permanent at that time.  In a few days (weeks?) more dainty, collapsable bollards will replace these big, ugly, orange monsters. 

  • Some of these look like the perfect locations for bike share stations. 

  • My kids will use them to get to school!  Yea!

  • HamTech87

    @45589687e8df260df565d048dab64df2:disqus Good point.  The irony for me as a suburbanite is that the suburbs were supposed to be this safe place to raise your kids — but they’re not. Our wide roads are speed-inducing, thus obesity-producing.  So now our kids get drivin everywhere.

    Where do kids in the suburbs bicycle safely?  When their parents DRIVE them to MANHATTAN, which happens with increasing frequency.

  • David

    I suppose the need to remove snow in winter adds to making these paint only to some degree. Also they want to see how it works before it goes all cement I suppose.

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

DOT Makes Room for Pedestrians on Flatbush Avenue

By Brad Aaron |
Ahead of a 2014 capital project that will shorten crossing distances for pedestrians on the stretch of Flatbush Avenue between Grand Army Plaza and Atlantic Avenue, DOT this week is installing temporary sidewalk extensions on side streets at five intersections. Crews will be painting extensions on Bergen Street, St. Marks Avenue, Prospect Place, Sterling Place and […]

New Bike Plan for Ft. Greene and Prospect Hts.

By Aaron Naparstek |
On Wednesday, June 14, 6pm, come to Brooklyn Community Board 2’s Transportation Committee meeting to learn about, and comment on, the NYC Department of Transportation’s new plan to install new bike lanes, paths and routes in Fort Greene and Prospect Heights. The plan calls for a new: Eastbound bike lane on Willoughby Street between Fort Greene […]

DOT Unveils Short-Term Ped Fixes Near Brooklyn Traffic Hub

By Ben Fried |
A sidewalk addition will keep traffic from turning onto Hanson Place from Flatbush and Fourth Avenue. Streets near the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the LIRR’s Atlantic Terminal are set to receive a basket of pedestrian improvements that may get underway as soon as November. Speaking last night to the CB2 transportation committee and about […]

Brooklyn CB2 Committee Seeks Better Fort Greene Bike Connections

By Ben Fried |
The transportation committee of Brooklyn Community Board 2 voted unanimously Tuesday night to advance the idea of improving cycling connections between Fort Greene and surrounding neighborhoods. The proposal put forward by committee member Mike Epstein envisions safer bicycling across Flatbush Avenue and Atlantic Avenue, spanning intersections that are currently among the most dangerous in Brooklyn. […]

Eyes on the Street: Return of the Guerrilla Separated Bike Lane

By Ben Fried |
Brooklyn’s new guerrilla bike lane has a life of its own. Last week we shared some pictures of a makeshift separated bike lane on the block of Bergen Street between Sixth Avenue and Flatbush Avenue, which is usually blocked by NYPD squad cars from the 78th Precinct. Enterprising local resident Ian Dutton had re-purposed some […]

Eyes on the Street: Dodging Drivers on the Sidewalk

By Stephen Miller |
Heads up, New Yorkers. You never know when your neighborhood sidewalk will turn into a construction detour for motorists. A National Grid construction crew blocked Prospect Place between Flatbush Avenue and Sixth Avenue this morning. Since the crew failed to cork the street at the top of the block by Flatbush, drivers were expected to […]