All it takes is a dream, and a meeting to present it.
The city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) is holding its second meeting to seek public input as to how Tillary Street −− dubbed the Brooklyn Bridge Gateway −− should be rebuilt between Cadman Plaza West and Navy Streets.
The June 23 workshop at Brooklyn Borough Hall comes as the DOT prepares for a total reconstruction on the roadway in 2012, which involves ripping up the street to put in new curbs and infrastructure.
DOT officials say it also opens the door to possibly widen the sidewalks, put in medians and get a better understanding of how the street operates in general for motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians alike.
In the first public meeting held in January on the issue, residents stressed how Tillary Street was a welcoming gateway boulevard just off the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, and imagined it with raised bike lanes, beautiful landscaping and better pedestrian crossings.
DOT Downtown Brooklyn Transportation coordinator Christopher Hrones said that what struck him about the first meeting was how much space people wanted to reclaim.
While some intersections such as the westbound approach from Tillary Street to Adams Street still needs all the traffic lanes and crossing, other areas such as Tillary Street west of Adams Street doesn’t really get a lot of traffic volume, he said.
Hrones said that residents’ ideas about limiting some of those traffic lanes to accomplish other goals such as landscaping, and decreasing the length of pedestrian crossings are good ideas.
Other ideas included enlarging median strips with plantings and as a refuge for pedestrians crossings, and having more shelters and bay spaces for buses.
Residents also talked about utilizing the service road, just north of Tillary Street, increasing designated bicycle lanes, and narrowing down the Flatbush Avenueâ„Tillary Street intersection to make it easier for a pedestrian crossing.
The meeting on Tillary Street’s future will review the issues and suggestions brought up at the January workshop, and the DOT will present some conceptual designs.
