This time, DUMBO is united for good.
Last weekend, the city removed — permanently, we have been promised — impenetrable barriers from a charming archway under the Manhattan Bridge, which had been open for a tantalizingly short stint last fall before being snapped shut again for construction.
Now the alley, which is actually the continuation of Water Street between Adams Street and Anchorage Place, is open for your ambling pleasure and will eventually be decked out with seating, repaved Belgian blocks and 24-hour lighting.
Locals rejoiced.
“People have always viewed it like the Berlin Wall of DUMBO,” said Fulton Ferry resident Bill Stein. “When it’s open, it’s a thoroughfare that reunites the two parts of the neighborhood.”
Merchants expect an uptick in business from the new connection.
“It’s very good when it’s open,” said Sam Elbashy, who sells a mean gyro in the Pearl Street triangle next to the newly open pedestrian archway.
The DUMBO Improvement District lobbied for the $500,000 facelift, which ties in with the suspension bridge’s upcoming 100th anniversary. The group plans to used the venue for public art installation or markets.
Executive Director Kate Kerrigan assured the public that the archway, which had been sealed for 17 years (a lifetime for some teenagers), won’t be walled up again.
“It’s open for good,” she promised.
