The new Delancey Street pedestrian bridge reopens today

Photo last week by William Klayer 

The new Delancey Street pedestrian bridge is back in service starting today. [Updated: We walked across it. Photos here.]

The city also announced that East River Park Ballfields 1 and 2 are now available for "permitted and open play." 

Also, notably: "The bridge will provide access to Ballfields 1 & 2 only, with no outlet to other areas of the park. Please note there is no water service on-site, so plan accordingly to bring your own supply."

The bridge is also only open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., so there are no night games on those fields, which are surrounded by an active construction zone, as the map on the Community advisory below shows...

Crews installed the new bridge, one of the new access points for East River Park, overnight on June 8. (The previous bridge was removed in early 2022.) According to the City Department of Design and Construction, the 215-foot-long bridge weighs 125 tons (much larger than the previous one) and is fully ADA-accessible. 

It's nice to see a little progress, as nearly three years in, much of the 57.5-acre park looks like a barren wasteland — especially below the Williamsburg Bridge.

 

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The "phased work operations" in East River Park began in November 2021 in Project Area 1 between Montgomery Street and 15th Street. Workers have been burying the park under fill and cutting down many trees as part of the billion-dollar-plus East Side Coastal Resiliency project. They are elevating the land 8 to 10 feet above sea level to protect the area from future storm surges. 

The city has said it will maintain public access to at least 42% of the park throughout construction, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2026. 

You can find more updates and construction notices at this link.