Open Streets is expanding to Bushwick and Brownsville

By Brooklyn Magazine Staff

Even more Open Streets are coming to Brooklyn this summer.

The (mostly) beloved pandemic-era program that closes streets to cars is expanding across the borough with two new neighborhoods getting into the summertime fun.

Thatford Avenue and Watkins Street in Brownsville and Troutman Street in Bushwick will officially be joining the program with full street closures for the first time.

In Park Slope, Fifth Avenue and Seventh Street, which currently participate in the program, also submitted applications for their Open Streets to be expanded. Those applications are being reviewed with the aim of launching and expanding the Open Streets around July 1, according to the Department of Transportation.

Also revealed by the department that the several existing Open Streets in Brooklyn are also getting “permanent redesigns to better prioritize pedestrians and cyclists,” which means that it can “evolve beyond the need for mental barriers.”

Those streets include Berry Street in Dumbo, N. 15 St in Greenpoint, Underhill Avenue and Vanderbilt Avenue in Prospect Heights and Beverly Road in Flatbush.

“Watching the Open Streets program activate each year is something I look forward to with my family, because this is exactly what our city needs more of,” said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso in a press release. “Not only do pedestrian-centered streets allow New Yorkers to take back our streets and our city, but with its new designs, the Open Street program keeps us safer from cars and reduces carbon emissions. ”

The Open Streets program has proven to be an economic windfall for participating shops and restaurants located on one one. Businesses on the car-free stretch in Prospect Heights saw their sales increase 20 percent compared to the pre-pandemic era and actually outperformed the borough’s average when compared to other Open Streets in Brooklyn.