Massive Infrastructure Projects Coming to Atlantic Avenue and Eastern Parkway

Already hit by massive traffic backups caused by the Atlantic Yards construction, Prospect Heights-area residents will soon be facing 18 months of infrastructure projects tearing up both Atlantic Avenue and Eastern Parkway.

Both projects are slated to begin in a few weeks be completed about 18 months later.

At last night’s packed meeting of Community Board 8, which is affected by the projects along with Community Board 2, residents said the projects should have been staggered.

“So these two projects will be happening simultaneously with the Ratner project?” one resident asked incredulously. “There are already waiting times as much as three minutes to clear one block … Why are the projects being done at the same time?”

But not everyone at the meeting thought the projects should be delayed.

Robert Witherwax, the board’s second vice chair, has been trying to get the Eastern Parkway project going for years.

Today, he said these two projects “would be a drop in the bucket compared to the Atlantic Yards project.”

“I’m not too concerned … they need to get done,” he said.

The Eastern Parkway project – affecting the dilapidated strip from Washington Avenue to Grand Army Plaza – will complete the overhaul of the pedestrian walkway and bike lanes. This will complete the renovation done decades ago for most of the parkway that stopped abruptly at Washington Avenue. It will also replace deteriorated infrastructure such as water mains, sewers, catch basins and traffic lights, city officials said.

The second project will dig up Atlantic Avenue from Carlton to Classon as well as Washington Avenue from Pacific to Fulton, also for the purpose of infrastructure replacement, city officials said.

In both cases, the construction will also attempt to better protect pedestrians crossing at Washington Avenue through redesigned sidewalks and medians, as well as improved traffic signals, according to city officials.