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March 9, 2010
Brooklyn Streets Close For Atlantic Yards Construction
NY1 News
by Jeanine Ramirez
After years of controversy and delay, some major streets in Brooklyn closed Monday, ahead of the much-anticipated groundbreaking this week for the Atlantic Yards Project.
Fencing went up to block off Fifth Avenue between Flatbush and Atlantic Avenue, Pacific Street between Vanderbilt and Carleton, and Pacific Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
Traffic officers did their best to help drivers get around.
"You see the traffic on Atlantic Avenue now, it's wild; it's crazy," said driver Austin James, a Fort Greene resident. "I don't know what the solution is. It's going to be a nightmare."
Related coverage...
NBC New York, Streets Close as Atlantic Yards Construction Moves Ahead
Traffic is getting snarled around the site of the planned Atlantic Yards complex in downtown Brooklyn, as streets in the area reportedly begin to close to clear way for construction on the controversial $4.9 million project.
Street closings include Fifth Avenue between Flatbush and Atlantic Avenue, Pacific Street between Vanderbilt and Carleton, and Pacific Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, New York 1 reports. The area is already backlogged with traffic and many drivers are expecting a traffic "nightmare."
Apparently, that traffic nightmare has already begun.
Atlantic Yards Report, "Turbulence and confusion" as drivers go wrong way on Pacific Street
"I do not expect perpetual gridlock, and my name is 'Gridlock Sam,'" observed Forest City Ratner consultant Sam Schwartz at a meeting on street closings February 24. "I absolutely believe there will be turbulence and confusion the first few days this goes in."
Indeed, even though the street closings plan maintains Pacific Street between Sixth and Carlton avenues as one-way westbound, that message, on the second day of changes, has not gotten through, according to the photos forwarded to me of traffic going east. (Click on graphics to enlarge)
[Warning: Take Dramamine before viewing video.]
NoLandGrab: Is there at least a little irony in the fact that it's a New York City garbage truck going the wrong way on Pacific Street? Forest City Ratner-funded Traffic Control Agents helping drivers navigate the new street configuration don't seem to be having much of an affect.
Posted by eric at March 9, 2010 1:29 PM