Promenade’s Fate Up For Debate At BQE Meeting Tonight

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, NY — The fate of Brooklyn Height’s iconic promenade will be up for debate Thursday night when the city presents controversial repair plans that call for shutting the walkway down for six years.

Brooklynites are invited to the NYCHA Ingersoll Houses Community Center at 177 Myrtle Ave. at 6:30 p.m. to learn more about two proposals for making vital repairs to the Brooklyn Queens Expressway underneath the Promenade.

The Department of Transportation released two plans last Thursday, noting that a stretch of the aging expressway between Atlantic Avenue and Sands Street is deteriorating and has a crash rate greater than 10 times the statewide average in some places.

The option that would cause the least disruption to traffic, take the least time and cost the city the least amount of money also calls for closing much of the promenade during construction, the DOT said.

A second option calls for repairing the highway lane by lane, with full closures on 24 weekends and overnight lane closures over four and a half years. But DOT officials warned this plan would cause extreme traffic backups that would negatively affect surrounding neighborhoods.

The work isn't slated to begin until 2020, at least, but DOT officials have already begun its outreach effort to pitch their plans to the neighborhood.

The first of those meetings is slated for Thursday night. Those unable to attend will be able to watch the presentation, which will be live-streamed, on Facebook.

(Lead image: A person walks along the Brooklyn Heights Promenade in June 2016. Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)