Downtown is turning into a real walker’s wonderland.
The city has almost finished creating a pedestrian plaza at the corner of Hoyt and Schermerhorn streets, offering bipeds a bit of space in the bustling neighborhood.
The $5,000 project brings a 17-foot by 70-foot walking and sitting area to the front of the main entrance to the Hoyt–Schermerhorn G and A/C train station — protected from traffic and newly painted cycling routes by a row of potted plants.
“It’s some much-needed room to breath on a very crowded sidewalk in Downtown Brooklyn,” said Wiley Norvell, a spokesman for Transportation Alternatives, the pedestrian and bike advocacy group. “Previously, this is space that was sitting under parked cars the entire day while pedestrians squeezed onto a few feet of sidewalk. Now that’s really turned on its head.”
The project — which reclaimed a chunk of sidewalk space often covered by parked police cars — started ahead of the expected November launch date and will be completed in the coming weeks when workers install two benches in the piazza, according to the Department of Transportation.
