The city Department of Transportation announced Wednesday it will reduce a section of the four-lane McGuinness Boulevard in Greenpoint, Brooklyn to two lanes of traffic and replace one lane in each direction with parking. Those parked cars will serve as barriers for bike lanes and some pedestrian islands will be added.
After years of stop-and-go, the decision makes official the so-called “road diet” transit advocates have called for. It comes about a month after the DOT announced that all four lanes of traffic would stay intact in that area.
“This has been three-and-a-half years. We have 10,000 signatures in support of the plan that they announced today,” Bronwyn Breitner, coordinator for Keep McGuiness Safe, said. “We feel really confident that the plan that’s going in is the safest plan for the street.”
The infrastructure will be on the southern section of the boulevard, which runs from Calyer Street to Meeker Avenue. Advocates with the group Make McGuinness Safe said the initial plan did not go far enough to protect cyclists and pedestrians.
Members of the group Keep McGuinness Moving, however, wanted the boulevard to stay as is out of fear that a redesign would negatively impact deliveries to local businesses and bring more traffic to the neighborhood.
“[The Department of Transportation] did not explore any of the viable alternatives for McGuinness, and we believe this plan ultimately makes Greenpoint less safe,” a spokesperson for Keep McGuiness Moving said in a statement.
The DOT says it will monitor the project and adjust the plan if needed. Construction will begin this fall and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.