More public space opens under the Brooklyn Bridge in Manhattan
Images courtesy of the NYC Department of Transportation
New Yorkers can now enjoy more public space under the Brooklyn Bridge in Manhattan. The latest phase of “The Arches” opened on Monday, adding 15,000 square feet of park space to an area closed to the public for more than a decade, the city’s Department of Transportation announced. The space, now with lush greenery and new seating, had been closed for nearly 15 years while serving as a staging site for several bridge restoration projects. The Arches sits next to the Brooklyn Banks, a haven for skateboarders that partially reopened last year.
Most of the space has been closed to the public since 2010 when the Department of Transportation began work on its $800 million project to restore the bridge. The ambitious undertaking included a comprehensive cleaning of its granite stones for the first time since its construction and the replacement of mortar between the stones.
“For the last decade, NYC DOT crews have worked hard to restore the iconic Brooklyn Bridge, creating a cleaner, brighter, and safer bridge to last us another century,” NYC DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said. “Now that this critical restoration is nearing a close, we are returning another portion of ‘The Arches’ to the community.”
Rodriguez continued: “For residents of and visitors to lower Manhattan and Chinatown, even small public spaces are precious – and we will continue working with the community to open even more of the Arches in the months ahead.”
Bounded by Park Row on the north and Rose Street to the south, the newly opened park space features more than a dozen tall shade trees, including oaks, elms, and Japanese pagoda trees. Sixteen park benches, most with views of the bridge, have been restored and installed around the space.
Last May, the city reopened a one-acre public space at the Arches with basketball, pickleball, and shuffleboard courts, as well as seating.
The opening coincided with the 140th anniversary of the Brooklyn Bridge and the completion of the city’s renovation of the iconic overpass.
“Public space in Manhattan is precious—every acre counts for the people who live, work in, and visit our bustling metropolis,” Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi said. “Where better to continue to deliver peaceful, elevated public space than a stone’s throw from Chinatown, in the shade of one of our city’s most iconic landmarks, the Brooklyn Bridge.”
Joshi continued: “While we have miles to go to complete our whole vision for this area, we are also grateful to be able to celebrate the wins and welcome New York to an area too long cordoned off, a new refuge for fun and relaxation.”
The largest sections of the Arches have yet to reopen. The Department of Transportation has initiated a public engagement process to gather feedback from local residents as it continues to reopen more of the previously closed spaces. Visioning sessions will be held before the end of the year.
In September, DOT applied to the U.S. Department of Transportation seeking a federal grant to fund the next sections of the Arches project under the Reconnecting Communities Pilot.
Created under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the pilot targets projects designed to “reinstitute community connectivity.”
The reactivation of the Arches is part of Adams’ “Working People’s Agenda,” announced during his 2023 State of the City address, which included an investment of $375 million into the creation of new public spaces across all five boroughs to improve the quality of life for New Yorkers.
The revitalization also follows a recommendation outlined in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s “Making New York Work for Everyone” action plan, which proposed a series of public realm improvements in all five boroughs, including underneath and around the Brooklyn Bridge.
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