Mayor Proposes Mystery $98M Improvements To Brooklyn Avenue

PARK SLOPE, NY — Mayor Bill de Blasio's proposed 2021 budget includes nearly $100 million for street safety improvements along Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn. But officials so far remain mum as to how exactly they'll spend that hefty chunk of change.

It appears the only official word can be found in a budget summary, which states the $98 million Fourth Avenue project is part of "Vision Zero," the mayor's ambitious plan to eliminate traffic deaths.

De Blasio tossed a question about the project over to Budget Director Melanie Hartzog during a Thursday press conference.

"It's largely for the street reconstruction and putting up various pedestrian walkways in the middle of it," she said, but demurred on further details until a later briefing.

Department of Transportation officials told Patch they plan to release more details Jan. 21, after employees return to work following the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.

De Blasio introduced the $92.5 billion budget by emphasizing several financial pressures which require belt-tightening measures. The Fourth Avenue proposal is one of the few highlighted new expenditures in the budget proposal documents.

City officials and community advocates have long sought safety improvements to Fourth Avenue. A cyclist's death last year added to their concerns.

DOT officials responded by announcing plans to fast track bike lanes projects to effectively create an unbroken stretch from First Street to 57th Street by the fall. That worked largely centered around Sunset Park, but the whole stretch runs along Park Slope and Gowanus.

City and transportation officials didn't respond to multiple requests to provide details on the Fourth Street project in the mayor's budget and how it will fit, or not, into the bike lane project.