Roadwork along the Fulton Mall is causing congestion on neighboring Livingston Street, as four bus lines have been diverted to the already busy Downtown corridor.
As of Aug. 9, the three-block stretch between Smith and Nevins streets now carries the B41, B45, B67, B25, B26, B38 and B52 — and traffic has never been worse.
“I haven’t seen traffic as bad as it is here in a long time,” said Cecil Ottley, who has lived in the borough for more than 30 years.
When the messy Fulton Mall reconstruction project began three weeks ago, the city moved the B25, B38 and B52 buses to Livingston Street. Then, on Monday, when the city closed down the mall between Jay Street and Flatbush Avenue, the B26 was added — and the bottleneck has drivers and pedestrians fuming.
“With all of those buses, there are just too many people trying to cross that street!” said John Misiriotis, who owns the Apollo Diner at the corner of Livingston and Smith Street. “Someone could get hurt.”
Bus passengers are still dealing with the confusion of not finding their bus at the normal Fulton Street stop.
“I found it this time, but last time I waited on Fulton for a while and had no clue where the bus was,” said Brooklyn resident George Hayes as he entered a Westbound B25 bus.
To deal with some of the mess, the MTA has a stationed a worker at the corner of Smith and Livingston streets.
“There’s been a lot of confusion,” said the man, who declined to give his name because of MTA policy.
The work will continue for at least a month — but there is a silver lining for at least one business.
“We’ve seen tons of new faces here at the diner,” Misiriotis said. “It might not be great for pedestrians, but it sure helps us a lot.”
