MOVING IN THE FAST LANE!
Work to improve traffi c from VZ-Bridge to Gowanus head of schedule: MTA
BY MEAGHAN MCGOLDRICK
Moving in the fast lane!
A major phase of work to
improve traffi c fl ow from the
Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge
to the eastbound Gowanus Expressway
fi nished up at the
end of October — more than
60 days ahead of schedule, according
to the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority.
Construction crews were
nearing completion of work
to expand the Fort Hamilton
Parkway exit ramp to two
lanes and add a fourth eastbound
lane from the Verrazzano
to the Fort Hamilton
Parkway exit, the MTA announced
on Oct. 29. The project
will also include the implementation
of additional
signage on the bridge, which
boasts the country’s most expensive
toll.
Agency offi cials say widening
the roadway will reduce
traffi c-weaving, improve
safety and eliminate a current
bottleneck that results in traffi
c back-ups at a site local leaders
say has long been a sore
COURIER L 20 IFE, NOV. 6-12, 2020
spot for drivers.
“The added lane will really
help address back-ups,”
Community Board 10 District
Manager Josephine Beckmann
said, adding that the
Fort Hamilton Parkway exit
“really created some hazardous
conditions for people — especially
during peak hours in
the morning.”
The improvements, she
said, were born out of “countless
meetings” with board
leaders, agency heads and local
elected offi cials like Councilman
Justin Brannan, who
told Brooklyn Paper that he
got to work on widening the
roadway shortly after being
elected in 2017.
The traffi c, Brannan said,
would sometimes snake for
over a mile to as far as Scarpaci
Funeral Home on 86th
Street and 14th Avenue.
“This was one of those
things that always drove me
bananas,” said Brannan. “I
wondered why nobody had
ever done something about
it. People were stuck in bumper
to-bumper traffi c on 86th
Street and 14th Avenue not
realizing it was because of a
bottleneck on the other side of
Fort Hamilton Parkway.”
The MTA estimates that
motorists will save a collective
1,000 hours daily — and
more than 360,000 hours annually
— on top of more than
1,500 tons of carbon emissions
eliminated each year thanks
to the project. Prior to the coronavirus
pandemic, an estimated
60,000 vehicles per day
traveled eastbound from the
Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge
to the Gowanus Expressway,
according to the agency.
MTA’s Janno Lieber called
the initiative an example of
perseverance amid the ongoing
coronavirus pandemic.
“This project is an example
of how MTA Construction
& Development is completing
projects faster and cheaper
than ever before, even amidst
the challenges of the COVID-19
pandemic,” said Lieber, the
president of MTA Construction
and Development. “But,
to continue delivering projects
like this — projects that
save our customers time and
help cut traffi c and air pollution
— we need Washington to
step up and provide billions in
emergency relief to offset the
MTA’s pandemic-related fi -
nancial crisis.”
This project in particular
cost the agency $18 million,
and the entire project is expected
to be completed by next
summer — well ahead of its
expected December 2021 fi nish
line.
Work to ease the fl ow of traffi c from the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge to
the Gowanus Expressway fi nished up ahead of schedule last weekend.
MTA
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