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Transportation

Downtown Brooklyn’s Greener, Car-Free Future Is Taking Root

The borough’s 2019 plan for a pedestrian-friendly downtown has been given a push by pandemic-era street changes. But right now, traffic still reigns. 

Downtown Brooklyn could serve as the staging grounds for an extensive pedestrianization campaign. 
Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty Images North America
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In December 2019, the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership unveiled one of the more ambitious ideas for remaking an American city.

A master plan, devised by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and WXY and first reported by CityLab, called for a neighborhood network of Dutch-style shared streets, busways, protected bike lanes and revamps to key green spaces. It was a pedestrian-centric rebuke of the Robert Moses-era planning that dominates much of the borough, where cars flood wide streets en route to the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges.