Brooklyn Bridge's Wooden Walkway May Be Widened in Next Few Years

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, NY — As most anyone who has ever tried to walk or bike across the iconic Brooklyn Bridge promenade at peak hours can attest, crossing the East River via the bridge's skinny, wooden walk- and bike-way often leaves a traveler resenting his fellow city dwellers and visiting tourists (and just humankind in general, really) a little more than he did on the opposite shore. And anyone who uses the promenade for their regular commute? No hope left. Completely dead inside.

One such unfortunate soul, 70-year-old Wall Street suit Peter Cardillo, lamented in Monday's New York Times that he can no longer "lose himself in the panoramic views" while commuting across the bridge. Why? "He is too busy trying to stay in one piece," the Times reported.

“It’s very dangerous,” Cardillo told the Times. “I’m always looking on the side because I never know when I’m going to get hit by a bike.”

Luckily, another of the bridge's victims, according to the Times, happened to be Mark Zuckerman, president of the Century Foundation, and his wife Polly Trotenberg, the very woman appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio to head the city's Department of Transportation (DOT).

Ms. Trottenberg recalled that they started walking and biking across the Brooklyn Bridge from their new home in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn.

Soon after, Mr. Zuckerman told her, “You have to figure out how to widen the walkway.”

“Trying,” she told him.

Now Ms. Trottenberg is keeping her word.

Indeed: The DOT uploaded a PowerPoint to the web Monday of its grand plan to widen the Brooklyn Bridge promenade to accommodate a greater number of cyclists and pedestrians, while better separating their designated lanes.

First, though, the city has commissioned a $370,000 study on the project's feasibility from AECOM, a private consulting firm.

AECOM has until February 2017 to complete the study.

Here's what else we learned from the Times and the city PowerPoint:

• The DOT (and the New York Times) think people refer to the Brooklyn Bridge as "Times Square in the sky."
• Expanding the promenade will be a long and painful process. “I have to tell you, every time we touch this 133-year-old bridge, it tends to be costly and complex,” Trottenberg told the Times.
• 100,000 vehicles, 10,000 pedestrians and 3,500 cyclists cross the Brooklyn Bridge on an average weekday
• Weekend pedestrian traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge has increased 275 percent in the past eight years. Nighttime bike traffic has increased 93 percent over the same period.
• The city recognizes that the most "iconic view for photos" also happens to be located at the promenade's narrowest point (10 feet wide).
• DOT officials are considering creating two new, pedestrian-only walkways on either side of the current walkway by laying down planks of wood over the two rows of "girders" (metal beams) that border the walkway.
• In the plan described above, the current promenade would either be bike-only or mostly bike, with a small, 4-foot path for pedestrians.
• Under this plan, "midpoint ramps and stop-controlled crossings" could be installed to allow pedestrians to cross the bike path.
• With all this extra space, the city is also considering adding activities, concession stands and a Citibike station to the wooden walkway.
• In the interim period before construction is completed, the DOT wants to possibly give pedestrians 10 feet of the 17-foot promenade and shorten the bike lane to 7 feet. However, the DOT would add a "seasonal fence" between the fence to make sure everybody stays in their own lane.
• The stairways on both the Manhattan and Brooklyn ends of the bridge will also be getting a makeover.

Below, we've included the PowerPoint slides that best showcase the city's vision. Stay tuned to the Patch for updates on how to scream at city officials about your ideal Brooklyn Bridge experience at venues in which they're obligated to listen. (Otherwise known as mandatory community input meetings.)