A rendering of the wooden foot bridge that will connect Columbia Heights to the Brooklyn Bridge Park. The $ 4.9 structure is part of a 450-foot-long route that descends from Squibb Park to Pier 1 which will also accommodate wheelchair users.
Brooklyn
It’s an express route to Brooklyn Bridge Park — with no cars allowed.
A wooden foot bridge like a boardwalk in the sky could be open by New Year’s Eve, park officials said Wednesday, according to the New York Daily News.
It will give residents of Brooklyn Heights — and visitors arriving via the High St. A and C subway station — faster access to the popular waterfront park.
“We’re isolated from much of the community by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway,” said Brooklyn Bridge Park president Regina Myer.
“We want more connections to them.”
She and local pols gave reporters a sneak peek at construction being done to complete the $4.9 million walkway through the tree tops. Its starting point is Squibb Park, the skateboarders’ haven on Columbia Heights past the end of Middagh St.
Squibb Park (r.) will be starting point for foot bridge to Brooklyn Bridge Park. The bridge's concrete support foundations have recently sprouted up, three of which can be seen in the photo. (Photo: Allison Joyce For the New York Daily News)
From there the bridge will swoop over Furman St. 40 feet above the blacktop — with killer views of the Statue of Liberty and Lower Manhattan skyscrapers — and descend to the Pier 1 waterfront.
The placement of the bridge just two blocks from Brooklyn Heights’ famed Promenade is “important psychologically,” said state Sen. Daniel Squadron (D-Brooklyn Heights).
“It says to everyone who comes to the Promenade, ‘Brooklyn Bridge Park is yours too,’” he explained.
Cyclists stand warned: Bike-riding on the eight-foot-wide span is verboten; bikes must be walked across it. Construction crews will hang the wooden bridge over Furman St. the weekend of Dec. 15; the road will be closed one night for several hours.
Tall concrete supports for the bridge have been planted in the earth while workers put finishing touches on bridge spans, which stand on temporary scaffolding on Pier 1.
A reporter climbed up on the spans for a test walk; the boards were springy underfoot. Protective stainless steel mesh screens that will be attached to the sides of the bridge will be just 42 inches high but its designer Ted Zoli doesn’t think there’s a big risk of suicides.
“Jumpers are not drawn to pedestrian bridges,” he said. There’s a 50-foot drop from Squibb Park to Pier 1. But twists and turns in the 450-foot-long route will make the descent gradual and easy for wheelchair users to handle.
Lack of funding delayed bridge construction until City Council members and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz allocated $4.9 million for it. The fancy foot bridge is one of a slew of amenities being added to the 85-acre city park.
On Pier 3 crews are getting ready to shape thousands of tons of landfill into hills that will dampen the noise from the BQE.
Read More:
New York Daily News - December 5, 2012 - By Lore Croghan
A Walk In The Park - November 19, 2010
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