SEE: Prospect Park Gets 2 New Entrances, Its First Since 1940s

PROSPECT PARK, BROOKLYN — A New Year means new openings for Brooklyn's backyard.

The Parks Department and Prospect Park Alliance unveiled two new entrances to the park on Flatbush Avenue on Thursday, the first to be added since the 1940s.

The entrances — found in the northeast corner and near the Prospect Park Zoo — come after a $3.2-million city project through the Parks Without Borders program, which asks New Yorkers to nominate sites that most need an upgrade.

"Green space has never been more important, and I'm proud NYC Parks is deeply committed to making it more accessible to all New Yorkers," Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a release. "Through Parks Without Borders, we're making Prospect Park even better than ever before."

The announcement comes as construction finishes up on the new entrances, which are found near the former Rose Garden and just north of the zoo. A formal ribbon cutting ceremony is slated for the next few weeks, officials said.

Both entryways include new lighting, seating and landscaping, and the Rose Garden entrance comes as Prospect Park Alliance and the Department of Transportation plan other improvements to the area.

"The major entrance aligns with a future DOT traffic signal and pedestrian crosswalk, intersecting a berm retained by a three-foot-high granite wall. This will open onto a small public plaza with two levels of terraced seating that provides views of the surrounding woodlands," officials said.

The upgrades will also include stepping stones that lead to an informal running trail on top of the berm and a rock scramble on the plaza with boulders from Brooklyn Methodist Hospital's building site.

The project brought personal significance for the city's Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, who grew up in Brooklyn.

“When I was in High School, my brother and I would run around the park along Flatbush Avenue, and it always struck me that there needed to be an easier way to get into the park from there," Silver said. "Later on, this experience became my inspiration for creating the Parks Without Borders initiative to make green spaces all over the city more welcoming and easier to access."

Prospect Park was one of two Brooklyn parks slated for money through the Parks Without Borders program. A renovation at Fort Greene Park through the program has garnered more controversy from locals and two lawsuits, one of which forced the city to hold off on the project earlier this year.

Other parks up for renovation under the program include Van Cortlandt Park and Hugh Grant Circle / Virginia Park and Playground in the Bronx, Jackie Robinson Park and Seward Park in Manhattan, Faber Park on Staten Island and Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens.