Council Member Rafael L. Espinal Jr., Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams, and NYCEDC released Broadway Junction: A Vision for the Future. This vision document is the result of a year-long engagement process of working group meetings and public feedback to identify community priorities and recommendations for the Broadway Junction area.
Broadway Junction is one of Brooklyn’s major transit centers, sitting at the intersection of five subway lines, six bus routes, and the Long Island Rail Road. It is uniquely connected to employment and transit hubs citywide, with a 15-minute ride to Downtown Brooklyn, Jamaica, or Williamsburg, 20 minutes to Lower Manhattan, and 35 minutes to Midtown Manhattan or JFK Airport. It is also the meeting point of six largely residential neighborhoods: Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brownsville, Bushwick, Cypress Hills, East New York, and Ocean Hill, as well as the East New York Industrial Business Zone, home to over 100 local industrial businesses.
Broadway Junction Station is the third busiest station in the borough and has no accessibility to any of its four levels. Despite its exceptional transit access and vibrant surrounding neighborhoods, Broadway Junction lacks basic services and amenities and is dominated by vacant sites, parking uses, poor lighting, and confusing streets. Broadway Junction: A Vision for the Future re-envisions the area as a true economic center anchored by an accessible transit hub, with new retail and attractions to serve transit riders and quality employment and training opportunities to strengthen East Brooklyn’s local economy.
The vision document identifies five community-driven priorities to guide the City’s future investments and planning efforts. Recommended strategies have been identified for each of the five goals:
- Transit access and equity: Improve the daily experience for all commuters using all transit stations in Broadway Junction.
- Inclusive growth: Ensure that existing residents and businesses benefit from any future changes and development in the Broadway Junction area.
- Economic and workforce development: Grow Broadway Junction into a major jobs center and expand access to training and career opportunities.
- Active places and neighborhood amenities: Make Broadway Junction an active, mixed-use district anchored by the transit stations.
- Public realm and open space: Improve and activate the streets, sidewalks, and open spaces to promote a sense of place and safely connect to surrounding neighborhoods.
NEXT STEPS:
These goals and recommendations will inform the blueprint for the future of Broadway Junction: a future of more good jobs, new retail and services, and active streets and public spaces—with an improved and accessible transit hub at its core. Achieving this vision will require significant resources and a collaborative effort between public agencies and community stakeholders. As a next step, NYCEDC and the City are working with Council Member Espinal and Borough President Adams to develop a strategy to implement this vision, and they will continue to seek feedback from local residents, workers, business owners, and commuters to help shape Broadway Junction’s future.
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