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Brooklyn Braces For Barclays Traffic With Jay-Z Christening Arena Tonight
By
Ben Yakas
Published Sep 28, 2012
Modified Sep 28, 2012
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Sep 28, 2012
Modified Sep 28, 2012
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Tonight is the big opening night at Barclays Center—Jay-Z plays the first of three concerts tonight to christen the big arena in the middle of Brooklyn. And as was expected, along with big name concerts and a basketball team comes massive amounts of traffic congestion. Oh, and there are also some small protests in the area, AND who knows what's going on with the weather today. So driving in Brooklyn right now would be really, really stupid.
There's a major gridlock alert in place for the areas near Barclays. According to NBC, drivers should avoid Flatbush Avenue from Tillary Street to Grand Army Plaza, and Atlantic Avenue from the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway to Bedford Avenue, as well as streets near the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges. So this is what every weekend in Prospect Heights/Park Slope/Downtown Brooklyn is going to be like from now on!
In addition to the gridlock, there's an Occupy Wall Street Guitarmy sit-in in response to Jay-Z saying some negative things about the movement earlier this month; there's also a "virtual rally" against the arena, although that obviously won't affect your commute. Thankfully, if you are going to the show tonight, or you're unlucky enough to live nearby the arena, you have that slick new subway entrance which was recently given Mayor Bloomberg's blessing: "There is as much mass transit under this building than there is under any place in NYC, even in Manhattan."
Tagged
barclays center
brooklyn
gridlock
jay-z
traffic
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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