Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

This is way, way beyond the original announced schedule of two years , but it does avert a traffic nightmare as of this Friday, Sept. 28, when the Barclays Center opens. The bridge is a key artery for drivers on Carlton Avenue, which borders the interim surface parking lot. Photo by AYInfoNYC

The Carlton Avenue Bridge will, in fact, reopen before the Barclays Center arena opens--offering key traffic flow but still leaving a bad taste for those who remembered that, when it closed in January 2008, the timetable was two years. On or around September 24, 2012, Carlton Avenue will re-open to vehicular traffic as a two-way roadway between between Atlantic Avenue and Pacific Street. Drivers can turn left or right on Atlantic Avenue. After Carlton Avenue reopens, Pacific Street between Carlton and Sixth Avenue will change from one-way westbound to a two-way roadway. As shown in the map below, an eastbound turn onto Pacific will be permissible only for those accessing the surface parking lot associated with the arena. For more information, see www.esd.ny.gov/AtlanticYards or www.atlanticyards.com . (Note that there's no actual Atlantic Yards Ombudsman .)

The reconstruction of the Carlton Avenue Bridge, which has to be open before the Barclays Center arena opens on Sept. 28, is nearly finished. But even before it's done, a "September is Just the Beginning" banner appears down the block on Carlton Avenue, right above a sign that announced the bridge closing, which began in January 2008. Yes, there are banners on Carlton Avenue, even though they mysteriously appeared and were removed within 24 hours on equally residential Dean and Pacific streets. What's going on? We don't really know, and we're still waiting for the Barclays Center Community Affairs Manager to be hired, so there's no single point person for the arena. Sure, that's not an easy job--presumably the person would have to have a wide range of skills and the ability to be credible to both arena supporters and increasingly frustrated (I'll bet) arena neighbors. But Forest City Ratner has been pushing hard to get the arena open. Sur...

Will the Carlton Avenue Bridge, a key connection between Prospect Heights and Fort Greene and one route to the adjacent arena surface parking lot, open before the Barclays Center does on September 28? Yes, say developer Forest City Ratner and the state official overseeing the project--and this time, unlike in previous months, that pledge is backed up by reports from the state's construction monitor. To get the bridge open, and avoid traffic chaos, the builders were considering opening the bridge with a temporary pier, not a permanent one. But even that won't be needed, thanks to overtime work, part of an accelerated schedule that caused considerable collateral damage to neighbors Last report At an Atlantic Yards District Service Cabinet meeting July 12, Forest City construction chief Bob Sanna said that the arena and the bridge were both on schedule. Is there a contingency plan for the bridge? “We really do expect to have the bridge in place,” said Sanna. Phot...

The latest two-week Atlantic Yards Construction Alert, dated 6/18/12 (and embedded below) and released yesterday by Empire State Development after preparation by Forest City Ratner. Notable is increased work in the Vanderbilt Yard and associated Carlton Avenue Bridge, aimed to get the bridge reconstructed before the arena opens September 28. Also note delays in Atlantic Avenue median work, progress in Flatbush Avenue sidewalk work, and the installation of bollards and tree pits along Atlantic Avenue. Note that the alert indicates that, at the planned surface parking lot on the southeast block, "[i]nstallation of the stormwater detention system began and will continue during this reporting period," a process short-circuited by a stop-work order issued June 15, as reported by Atlantic Yards Watch. Points of confusion The report also contains several paragraphs that are repeated verbatim from the previous alert, which projected work to be done in the ensuing two weeks. ...

Atlantic Yards Watch follows up on the video posted yesterday about very loud noise at 2 am at the Vanderbilt Yard. In Noise from nighttime "cutover" of LIRR operations causes consternation for nearby residents , Peter Krashes writes: 24-hour work to move LIRR operations from the southern to the northern half of Vanderbilt Railyards (referred to as the "cutover" in ESDC's Atlantic Yards construction alerts) is causing consternation among residents. AYW has received several complaints about jackhammers, saws, and the persistent beeping of reversing construction vehicles. One resident describes "jackhammering, tons of noise." The video... is a of a worker using a saw on LIRR's tracks at 2 AM. The filer of the incident report that includes the video has a decibel meter and reports a 120 db level. No steps to attenuate the noise are visible in the video. The use of noisy equipment like saws and jackhammers is not specified in the most rece...

The Carlton Avenue Bridge is still scheduled to be completed on 10/3/12, five days after the first event at the Barclays Center, but, according to a  report  from the construction monitor for the arena bond trustee, Forest City Ratner is paying overtime to meet the completion date, and also has asked the city Department of Transportation for the OK to open the bridge with temporary street lighting and railing. The report, dated 6/4/12 and based on a site visit 4/26/12 and a later document review, was issued by Merritt & Harris, which reports to the bond trustee, developer Forest City Ratner, and the Empire State Development Corporation. The report also states, "Nevertheless, the Empire State Development (ESD) has requested that FCRC propose a mitigation plan to control and alleviate the traffic flow congestion for the first event at the arena, scheduled for September 28, 2012." Is that so? Arana Hankin, Director, Atlantic Yards Project, ESD, told me the report was w...

Coming Tuesday, May 22,  as noted in the announcement at right, is the belated meeting on the Barclays Center Transportation Demand Management (TDM) plan, at 6 pm at Borough Hall. Beyond consultant Sam Schwartz, who works for developer Forest City Ratner, representatives of several government agencies will be present, including the Metropolitan Transportation, Long Island Rail Road, and Department of Transportation. The meeting should focus on incentives to use public transit or at least to not drive to the arena area. We should learn how the MTA and LIRR will increase service, how Forest City Ratner will use incentives (like a free MetroCard with ticket and remote parking lots with shuttles) to encourage use of public transportation, cross-marketing with area businesses, how bike parking will be run , perhaps even how they rationalized cutting the surface parking lot to fewer than 550 spaces , and whether the incentives will be used for other large events beyond Nets games ....

From Atlantic Yards Watch, Railyard lights and construction may extend to 24 hours through June , there's new evidence that getting the neighborhood ready for the Barclays Center will go down to the wire: The hours the lights will be used will be expanded again when the "cutover" of LIRR operations from the southern tracks to the northern tracks takes place. Around the clock work will occur immediately before and during the cutover, which will take place over the course of two weekends in mid-June. Moving LIRR operations to the northern tracks is the next step in the construction of the railyard. The southern half now has to be lowered 27 feet to be at the same height as the recently excavated northern half... Members of the PHNDC board, (a sponsor of AYW), were previously told the cutover would take place May 28. The new date in mid-June could mean there is a delay in the railyard work, on which the reopening of the Carlton Avenue Bridge depends. Atlantic Yards Re...

Empire State Development, the state agency overseeing Atlantic Yards, today issued a Supplemental Report to its regular two-week Construction Updates. The gist: floodlights at the Vanderbilt Yard that are supposed* to be off by 3 am may be on all night during the next two week period, in mid-June, and possibly through the end of June. That means residents nearby to ensure they have very thorough coverage blocking their windows. Why'd I add the asterisk? Because residents have already reported, via Atlantic Yards Watch , that those operating the lights do not necessarily follow the stated plan. The reason? Developer Forest City Ratner is rushing to achieve "timely completion" of the Carlton Avenue Bridge, indicated in the announcement by the rather cryptic initials CAB. What's missing? That the current schedule for the bridge indicates completion in the week after the arena opens , though the reconstruction of the bridge is an "arena opening condition,...

Update May 22: Arana Hankin, Director, Atlantic Yards Project, for Empire State Development, said she did not know about the request for mitigation plan and said she had not asked for it. That suggests the request may have come from "EDC"--New York City Economic Development Corporation--though the writer of the report has not clarified that. Hankin says the bridge should be open before the arena does.  So, is the Carlton Avenue Bridge on schedule? Only if the state flunks transparency. Last week, Arana Hankin, Director, Atlantic Yards Project for Empire State Development (ESD), assured those at a  community meeting  that "I'm more than confident that the bridge will be open before the first public event at the arena." That's a September 28 Jay-Z concert. However, the regular site observation report issued yesterday by Merritt & Harris, the construction monitor for the arena bonds, predicted that the bridge would be completed five days later, by ...

Update May 1, 8:30 pm: I am told by Alfred Chiodo, aide to Council Member Letitia James, that "ESD has agreed with our office that you be allowed to videotape tomorrow’s Ken Adams meeting." Some seven months after Empire State Development CEO Kenneth Adams met with select community representatives regarding Atlantic Yards, Adams will reprise such a meeting at 6 pm on Wednesday, May 2 at Brooklyn Borough Hall. While the Nets'  branding juggernaut proceeds  and state officials have expressed no qualms about the project, community questions should have a bit more weight, given an appellate court decision last month slamming the state's oversight and continued obfuscation about plans to rebuild the Carlton Avenue Bridge. Indeed, yesterday, the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council asked Adams's boss, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and Mayor Mike Bloomberg to stop the scheduled construction of a surface parking lot for the project, given that the release of ...

The latest two-week Atlantic Yards Construction Alert, dated 4/9/12 (and embedded below) and released yesterday by Empire State Development after preparation by Forest City Ratner, contains an implicit admission that not enough has been done to contain dust at the site. The alert discloses a response to significant dust problems-- documented by Atlantic Yards Watch --on Block 1129, the southeast block used for construction staging and destined for interim surface parking. "A full time laborer has been hired to manage dust suppression on Block 1129," the alert states, though it's unclear whether the laborer's full-time job is to manage dust suppression.  Nor is it clear what impact that worker has had. There's clearly much more to be done, since, as documented yesterday by Atlantic Yards Watch, the  pile of dirt  on Block 1129, which was  long uncovered  but belatedly covered (below, left), was again left partly uncovered  (above, right), lead...

I have an article in Streetsblog today,  Barclays Center Mysteries: Three Big Unknowns About Arena Transportation , about the delays and uncertainty plaguing three aspects of Barclays Center plans: the Transportation Demand Management plan, the surface parking lot, and the reopening of the Carlton Avenue Bridge. While careful readers of this blog know a good deal of the story, what's new is further evidence of delays--and evasion--regarding the Carlton Avenue Bridge. I explain that in the Streetsblog article and do so in greater length here. There's huge pressure to get the bridge reopened before the first event at the Barclays Center arena, the September 28 Jay-Z concert. So developer Forest City Ratner is considering cutting corners: opening the bridge before the asphalt is paved. On schedule--really? Moreover, Empire State Development (ESD), the state agency overseeing the project, has continued to obfuscate on whether the bridge is delayed. Weekly reports fr...

Is the reconstruction of the Carlton Avenue Bridge on schedule? That question is key, given that a delay in re-opening the bridge would create chaos when arena event traffic inundates Prospect Heights. At yesterday's Atlantic Yards District Service Cabinet meeting, City Council Member Letitia James asked about extended work hours at the Vanderbilt Yard: "The reason for extended work is because you’re behind schedule?" "It's really not a question of being behind schedule," responded Linda Chiarelli, Forest City Ratner deputy director of construction. "It's accommodating the circumstances that were encountered out in the yard, and to guarantee that the Carlton Avenue Bridge will be open when the arena opens." James asked if the bridge was on schedule. "It's on schedule with the [ double shift ] work hours we are using," responded  Chiarelli. "We are on time." (In November, Chiarelli's boss, Bob Sanna, explain...

Yesterday, some Brooklynites got not one but two messages from Forest City Ratner/Atlantic Yards. The first, a reprise of the "Dear Neighbor" message sent to a select few regarding the potential recruitment of Brooklyn-based food vendors, was addressed to "Dear Interested Party." No Parking on part of Pacific The second was this: This serves as notice as stipulated in DOT Permit #B022012058055 that effective Monday March 5, 2012 there will be No Parking on the north side of Pacific Street from the intersection of Carlton Avenue to approximately 100 feet west of the intersection. Temporary constuction parking regulation signs will be posted to establish this no parking zone. The no parking zone is being established to allow for the reconstruction of the Carlton Avenue Bridge. A copy of the general notice can be found here .

Though neither Forest City Ratner nor city/state officials have said so, the reconstruction of the Carlton Avenue Bridge, a crucial connector between Prospect Heights and Fort Greene, is lagging a month behind schedule, state documents confirm. The delay has sparked a breakneck construction pace to meet the new completion date of late September 2012, just before the first official Barclays Center event, a sure-to-be-sold-out Jay-Z concert on 9/28/12. Just yesterday, Empire State Development, the state agency in charge of the project, announced that work to finish the bridge could go as late as 3 am on weekdays through September. That means that painfully bright (to some) floodlights will illuminate the Vanderbilt Yard until 3 am--and, as experience has shown , likely even longer. And if the bridge doesn't get done in time, nearby streets would face confusion and chaos on event days, at least initially. (February 2010 photo by Tracy Collins) Key connection The b...