Wooden Bridge Proposed For Greenpoint Waterway
GREENPOINT – An ambitious North Brooklyn design firm is raising money to explore a major project over Newtown Creek: a wooden pedestrian bridge spanning the waterway.
The project, which launched on Kickstarter this week, is the brainchild of Williamsburg design company Crème, headed by Jun Aizaki. The span would provide alternative pedestrian access between Greenpoint and Long Island City, which is otherwise accessible via the Pulaski Bridge on McGuinness Boulevard.
A timber bridge between the two boroughs would be the first step in creating what Crème refers to as the LongPoint Corridor, between the two neighborhoods. Additional steps would include landing parks in Greenpoint and Long Island City at either end of the bridge, and another pedestrian walkway spanning the LIRR tracks bisecting Vernon Avenue.
The new timber bridge would replace the Vernon Avenue bridge, which was destroyed in 1954 to make way for the Pulaski Bridge. However, it would be a departure in many ways, especially based on its wooden construction.
As Newtown Creek is still an active waterway for shipping—as anyone held up in traffic while the Pulaski goes up to let a ship through can attest—the timber bridge has been designed in two pieces, which would pivot to lay flush with the banks of Newtown Creek, allowing shipping and barges to pass through as usual.
Touting the bridge as a way to provide alternative access between the G and 7 trains during the L Train Shutdown, Créme also highlights the creation of additional green space on both sides of the bridge. But in the video, it’s clear that there are many, many steps between this idea and any kind of concrete support.
For now, the company is looking for $50,000 to further explore the plausibility of the bridge and to create a “light bridge” display across the water this fall, which would ideally raise awareness and support for the project.
