If you ride over the Manhattan Bridge at all regularly you’ll have noticed that while its Brooklyn end has a big circular meadow where people actually sit in the sun sometimes when the weather’s nice, the Manhattan side has a strange, trash-strewn triangular public space about ten feet above street level that’s rarely occupied, except by homeless sleepers. That’s all about to change, reports DNAinfo, as the city plans to refurbish the disused terrace—although the headline “City to Create Mini High Line in Chinatown” is a little misleading.
The tiny elevated triangle bounded by the Manhattan Bridge to the west, Forsyth Street to the east and Canal Street to the north, will get new trees, bike racks, movable tables and seating, a vendor of some sort, and a public art installation, according to a Department of Transportation announcement at a Community Board 3 meeting last week.
The sidewalk beneath the plaza on Forsyth Street will also be widened as part of the $1 million project, to provide more space for its bustling year-round greenmarket. The project’s design phase, including soliciting community input, will continue through at least early 2012, with a tentative completion date set for a year later.
(Curbed)