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NYC to drivers: Avoid northern part of Flatbush Avenue as street gets bus-friendly rebuild
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Published Apr 9, 2026
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Department of Transportation
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Published Apr 9, 2026
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City officials on Thursday warned drivers to avoid the northern section of Brooklyn’s Flatbush Avenue later this month through the fall as the transportation department overhauls the notoriously congested roadway.
The work will make good on a long-awaited redesign of the avenue between Grand Army Plaza and Livingston Street, first announced in 2023 under then-Mayor Eric Adams.
It will add six large concrete islands in the center of the street for bus riders to wait to board. The road will be repainted with bus lanes in its center lanes, designed to separate buses from cars.
The DOT’s plan also includes wider sidewalks at intersections, 14 new areas for bike parking and 11 new loading zones for local businesses to manage deliveries.
The DOT started work last fall, stretching two blocks between Livingston and State streets, but suspended construction as the winter season began. Officials said the work on the rest of the stretch will resume in the last week of April, if the weather permits.
Transportation officials said the construction will last about six months, and urged drivers to avoid the stretch of Flatbush Avenue during that time. Officials said drivers should seek alternative routes or use mass transit.
“Time is money, and, too often, our city has taken both from working people who rely on our buses,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani wrote in a statement. “These center-running bus lanes will give New Yorkers back something precious: time with their families, time at work, time in their communities.”
Transportation Commissioner Michael Flynn added that the redesign “offers a bold blueprint” for other street projects in the city.
Flatbush Avenue is one of the city’s busiest — and slowest — corridors for bus riders. Buses run at a pace of roughly 4 mph on the stretch north of Grand Army Plaza.
About 130,000 daily riders use 12 bus routes that travel on the segment the DOT plans to overhaul, including the B41 — one of the busiest in Brooklyn.
The DOT plans to finish the rebuild of the street in four phases.
First, the city will remove two existing concrete islands at the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic avenues. Then, they’ll build the new bus boarding islands to the roadway one side at a time, to preserve two-way vehicle access on the other half.
The DOT plans to finish the final step of installing new road markings, signage and other infrastructure like corrals to park a bike by the end of the fall.
The DOT is still planning upgrades to Grand Army Plaza itself, just south of where the agency plans to overhaul Flatbush Avenue.
The department has presented three options to the public, including one that would cut off car traffic from the south side of the arch’s plaza to create one large pedestrian plaza that connects to Prospect Park.
Tagged
brooklyn
new york city
transportation
Ramsey Khalifeh
Ramsey Khalifeh is a transportation reporter on the NYC Accountability desk covering the largest transit system in the country. He was previously a general assignment reporter at Gothamist and worked on the Boston Globe's metro and copy desk. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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