Metal makeover
Long-troubled Squibb Bridge reopens
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
A new and improved revamp of
the beleaguered multi-million-dollar
Squibb Bridge reopened to the public
on May 4.
The reconstructed span fi nally connects
its namesake park on Middagh
Street in Brooklyn Heights to Pier 1 in
Brooklyn Bridge Park below, offering
locals a swift path to the waterfront
green space and a respite from quarantining
at home during the COVID-19
crisis, according to the head of the
semi-private stewards of the park.
“Right now, social distancing is
so important and having more access
points to the park can only help that,”
said Eric Landau, president of Brooklyn
Bridge Park Corporation.
Squibb Bridge II wrapped about
two months ahead of schedule, with
the original opening planned for summer,
and the costs came in at just
north of $7 million, according to Landau.
Engineers with Arup Group designed
the new pedestrian overpass to
look very similar to the former troubled
bridge near the water, but with
a structure of pre-fabricated steel instead
of black locust wood, which rotted
and made the original walkway
above Furman Street unsafe.
Builders with the company Turner
Construction tore down the old bridge
Park stewards unveil plans for plaza beneath B’Bridge
4 COURIER LIFE, MAY 8-14, 2020
in October but left the in-ground support
columns to hold up the metal
structure with the new elevated path
with 9-foot wide timber ash decking.
The original wooden bridge opened
in 2013 at a construction cost of roughly
$4.1 million and designed by engineering
fi rm HNTB. But the connector
closed in 2014 for what were supposed
to be short-term repairs at a price tag
of $700,000, but stayed shuttered until
2017 with fi xing costs ballooning to
$3.4 million.
During that closure, Brooklyn
Bridge Park sued HNTB for the shoddy
build, but the parties eventually
agreed to a $1.95 million settlement
payment to the park and no admission
of liability by either side, according to
the New York Times.
All told, more than $14 million went
into building the 450-foot bridge, tearing
it back down, and rebuilding it
again during the better part of a decade,
which comes in at about $2,600
per inch!
The new structure will no longer
be bouncy like the old one, and Landau
said the Corporation was more focused
on getting a stable construction
this time around.
“What’s most important to us is to
have a bridge that is fully functional
for longevity and we believe that we
have that now,” he said.
Squib Bridge reopened to the public on May
4 after a multi-million-dollar rennovation of
the span. Photos by Susan De Vries
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
They’re bridging the gap!
Brooklyn Bridge Park managers
unveiled their plans for a
new pedestrian plaza beneath
the Brooklyn Bridge, which —
along with another project at
nearby Pier 2 — will complete
the more than a decade-long revamp
of the area, and create a
continuous park along the formerly
industrial waterfront, according
to the park’s leader.
“It’s very exciting that the
Pier 2 Uplands, which is on
track to open this summer, and
the space under the Brooklyn
Bridge, which breaks ground
this fall, will complete the original
park plan,” said the president
of the Brooklyn Bridge
Park Eric Landau.
The semi-private corporation
overseeing Brooklyn’s
front yard plans to transform
the currently fenced off lot at
Water Street into a sprawling
two-acre civic space, while reshaping
and expanding the Fulton
Ferry Lawn just north of
the bridge.
The $8 million project will
start in the late fall, and is
slated to wrap in December
2021, according to the scheme
Landau presented to Community
Board 2’s Executive Committee
in a virtual meeting on
April 27.
The purely-advisory civic
panel voted unanimously to
support the project, which will
still need approval from the
city’s Landmarks Preservation
Commission in the coming
months before builders can
break ground.
The plans also call for installation
of new benches and
greenery along Water Street,
along with new pathways connecting
the Dumbo-section of
the park with the areas south
of the bridge — where piers 1-6
now feature basketball courts,
roller rinks, and restaurants,
and walking paths.
Directly beneath the bridge
will be a stretch of patterned
concrete pavers that mirror the
length and width of the bridge,
giving passersby a sense of
proportion of the 183-year-old
structure above.
“If you were standing directly
under the bridge and
looking above to the cabling of
the bridge, the paving mirrors
or mimics the underside of the
bridge itself,” Landau said. “It’s
kind of this magical place.”
The new plaza and the paths
will provide an easier connection
from the park to Dumbo,
where before park goers are
currently forced to go around
the fenced off lot along Water
Street.
Future programming for
the space could include seasonal
markets, festivals, and
educational events, according
to Brooklyn Bridge Park’s website.
The plaza will mark the fi -
nal component of the almost
14-year redevelopment of the
once working waterfront into a
sprawling 1.3-mile recreational
haven along the East River,
which builders fi rst broke
ground on in February 2008.
The other remaining project
are the Pier 2 Uplands, where
planners will add 3.4 acres of
parkland, a water feature with
spray jets, a seating area, as
well as continuing the roadside
berm to diminish noise coming
from the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway
and Furman Street.
That overhaul started in the
fall of 2018 and is scheduled to
fi nish by the summer, according
to Landau.
The group also recently announced
the opening of a pricey
new steel Squibb Bridge for
May 4 replacing the previous
iteration made from black locust
wood, which rotted and
rendered the former walkway
unsafe.
The plaza beneath the Brooklyn Bridge is set for an updgrade.
Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates