A former roadway along the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway has been transformed into a new public gathering space in Williamsburg with the opening of Jackson Street Pop-Up Plaza at 1 Jackson St., according to Greenpointers.
The plaza, which opened Wednesday, occupies a BQE-adjacent slip lane on Jackson Street between Meeker and Union avenues. The space includes picnic tables, café furniture, planters, signage and movable barriers, creating a pedestrian area where cars previously parked.
The project is a collaboration between The Exley, a Williamsburg gay bar, North Brooklyn Parks Alliance and the North Brooklyn Open Streets Community Coalition. The New York City Department of Transportation approved the plaza, while North Brooklyn Parks Alliance and The Exley helped establish the space.
“For several years, Pride weekend and other gatherings hosted by The Exley have demonstrated a real constituency for activating this space,” Katie Denny Horowitz of NBK Parks told Greenpointers.
The project offers North Brooklyn residents another place to gather in an area shaped by the construction of the BQE. The highway's development created several underused pockets of roadway and community advocates have pushed for years to reclaim those spaces for public use. Jackson Street is the first of the BQE's slip lanes to be pedestrianized.
The pop-up design is also intended to test how the space works before more permanent improvements are considered. That approach allows project partners to observe how residents use the plaza while addressing concerns about access, maintenance and safety.
North Brooklyn Parks Alliance will help maintain the space, including caring for plantings, monitoring conditions, providing sanitation and coordinating programming with community partners.
The plaza also builds on activity that has already taken place around The Exley and the surrounding neighborhood. Future programming could include community gatherings, markets, live music and other events.
Project partners plan to continue working with nearby residents and organizations on volunteer stewardship and programming as they explore how the plaza could become part of a broader effort to create more pedestrian-friendly public spaces along the BQE.
