BROOKLYN, NY— Construction began on a redesign of two major Brooklyn avenues on Thursday, creating new bus lanes, protected bike paths and improved street crossings.
The project will overhaul DeKalb Avenue between Broadway and Flatbush Avenue and Lafayette Avenue between Ashland Place and Patchen Avenue.
City officials have not provided a projected completion date for the redesign.
Together, the two corridors will gain 2.7 miles of new bus lanes, including offset and curbside lanes.
The redesign targets the B38 bus route, which carries 18,000 riders each day, and runs through Bedford-Stuyvesant, Clinton Hill and Fort Greene.
The changes aim to reduce delays, improve bus reliability and give cyclists and pedestrians safer routes through the neighborhoods, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said.
Since 2021, crashes along DeKalb and Lafayette avenues have injured 841 people, including 47 who suffered serious injuries. One person has died, according to the Department of Transportation.
The Brooklyn redesign falls under Next Stop: Fast Buses, Better Service, a partnership between Mamdani, Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to improve service on 175 bus routes.
The routes represent nearly 75 percent of the City's bus network.
Brooklyn has become a major focus of the administration's 2026 transportation projects. Other planned or advancing improvements include work on Marcy Avenue, Flatbush Avenue, Utica Avenue, Church Avenue and Linden Boulevard.
The administration has advanced bus and street safety projects across all five boroughs in 2026:
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