Get Ready For a Very Uncomfortable Year on the Brooklyn Bridge

4:58 PM EDT on April 1, 2015

There's crowded, and then there's the Brooklyn Bridge on a nice warm day with construction fencing off half the walking and biking path. Image: DOT

Just as the weather warms and tourists once again mob the Brooklyn Bridge to admire the skyline and snap some photos, DOT has announced that construction work will narrow the one place on the bridge path that's even remotely close to comfortably wide.

The maintenance work involves "steel improvements at tower locations as well as structural joint repair on the Brooklyn approach." For people walking and biking on the bridge path, that will mean squeezing around construction fences blocking off one side of each tower.

Nowhere to pause for photos, nowhere to not be in the way of other people. Image: DOT — Image: DOT

During overnight hours, part of the Brooklyn side of the path will also be halved. The closures, which are more intrusive than previous construction barriers, will be in place through December. Additionally, between April 6 and April 20 DOT will close half the Manhattan approach during overnight hours.

This doesn't work for anybody. Photo: Stephen Miller

Making matters worse, NYPD continues to park its Interceptor vehicles on the bridge path, as it has since the department was embarrassed by a pair of German artists who climbed the bridge towers to install white flags last year.

There's only one way to make this situation bearable: Convert one of the bridge's car lanes to a bikeway for the summer and see what happens.

Stephen Miller

In spring 2017, Stephen wrote for Streetsblog USA, covering the livable streets movement and transportation policy developments around the nation. From August 2012 to October 2015, he was a reporter for Streetsblog NYC, covering livable streets and transportation issues in the city and the region. After joining Streetsblog, he covered the tail end of the Bloomberg administration and the launch of Citi Bike. Since then, he covered mayoral elections, the de Blasio administration's ongoing Vision Zero campaign, and New York City's ever-evolving street safety and livable streets movements.

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