What Do You Think About All the Barclays Hubbub?

From Jay-Z to Babs to the Biebs, from basketball to hockey to horses, and possibly now from traffic to traffic changes to even more traffic, the saga of the Barclays Center has been exhausting from the word go. And even though we’re a good 15 minutes from the future arena, there’s no denying that it will impact us in some way.

At yesterday’s Barclays Center Transportation Demand Management meeting at Borough Hall, reps from Forest City Ratner explained some of the ways they’re hoping to ease the traffic problems that could be associated with adding 18-19,000 ticket-holders to the Atlantic Center area on a given night. Be sure to check out the full details on the meeting from neighbor Norman Oder at his Atlantic Yards Report site, but for now, here are some highlights:

• There will be additional Q and 4 trains after games and big concerts, but not necessarily for smaller events.

• A plan to provide discount MetroCards to attendees has been scrapped.

• No bus-only lanes for Atlantic or Flatbush on game days.

• As previously announced, a surface parking lot’s capacity was cut in half, to 541 spaces.

• Residential permit parking is still on the table, but is slow to get support.

• There will be parking lots near the BQE to “intercept” drivers early, to potentially keep them from parking on local streets, with shuttle buses from those lots to the arena.

• There will be 400 spaces for bike parking, but they’ll all be outdoors.

Empire State Development has opened up a 30-day public comment period on the plan, and you can send your comments to AtlanticYards@esd.ny.gov. They’ll have another public meeting on June 20, and they say the plan will be open to changes after the construction is complete, with two studies already planned for 2013.

So as someone who doesn’t live there but who does pass through regularly, how do you think transportation around the Barclays Center is going to be? Do you anticipate packed subways cars, backed up traffic on Flatbush Avenue, and a pedestrian mash on your evening commute? Or do you think there won’t be a noticeable difference?

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