Federal funding will help fix Broadway, a major transportation and retail corridor in Brooklyn.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Small Business Committee Ranking Member Nydia Velázquez on Wednesday announced that they secured $1.85 million in federal community project funding to fix the corridor that runs underneath several above-ground subway lines.
The funding will allow the city Department of Transportation to remove the deteriorated concrete on Broadway between Flushing Avenue and Eastern Parkway and install an asphalt roadway that can be more easily maintained. It will also include safety improvements, including curb extensions, sidewalk repair and raised crosswalks at select locations, officials said.
"This really is an all-hands-on-deck effort to make sure we’re bringing resources back to the community to improve the lives of the people that all of us are privileged to represent and fight hard for each and every day,” Jeffries said in a statement. “The Broadway Corridor is the heart and soul of this community, and we want to make sure that we treat this area with the dignity and respect that it deserves.”
The neighborhoods around Broadway, which provides a border between Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant, has seen a lot of change, said Celeste Leon, district manager for Community Board 4.
"Yet there are parts that are still frozen in time, and Broadway is an example of that," she said.
“Broadway is a lifeline for the small businesses, families and commuters who rely on it every day," said Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez. "Securing $1.85 million to help rebuild this corridor means safer crosswalks for our kids, better sidewalks for our seniors and a roadway that finally meets the needs of the community."
There are many small retail shops on Broadway, including immigrant- and women-owned businesses, City Council Member Sandy Nurse said.
"We want to see this corridor invested in so that people can feel safe, that we can have pedestrian safety, vehicle safety and that it looks like a world-class city that we are already in,” she said. “This is just seed money on a very, very expensive project, but a project that is long, long overdue."
