The Department of City Planning’s Downtown Brooklyn Pedestrian Study formulated recommendations for improving the pedestrian experience in Downtown Brooklyn and the surrounding neighborhoods with clearer, easier, more pedestrian-friendly connections. The study area is bounded by the East River to the north and west, Atlantic Avenue to the south, and Ashland Place to the east. Based on differences in land use, neighborhood character and pedestrian activity, the study area is divided into five focus areas: the Downtown Core, the Manhattan Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge, Atlantic Avenue and Flatbush Avenue/Fort Greene.
Within the context of related development and streetscape projects in Downtown Brooklyn, and in coordination with the city-sponsored Downtown Brooklyn Development Plan and New York City Department of Transportation's Downtown Brooklyn Traffic Calming Project, the Downtown Brooklyn Pedestrian Improvement Study (the Pedestrian Project) recommends landscaping, lighting, sidewalk treatment, pedestrian connection and plaza improvements to define a vision for guiding and enhancing future streetscape changes in each focus area.
The project findings and recommendations have resulted in the allocation of city capital funds for streetscape improvements on segments of Flatbush and Myrtle avenues. Detailed priority recommendations for the Flatbush Avenue/Fort Greene focus area were used to develop the project scope for final design and implementation of streetscape improvements to begin construction in 2010.
For more information on the Downtown Brooklyn Pedestrian Improvement Project, please contact the Brooklyn Office of the Department of City Planning at (718) 780-8280.