The Squibb Park Bridge its bouncing back!
Repairs on the long-shuttered, trampoline-like walkway that connects the Brooklyn Heights Promenade to the Brooklyn Bridge Park are finally finished, and park officials say they are just waiting on the paperwork so it can reopen, according to a rep for waterfront meadow.
“The planned work on the Squibb Park Bridge remediation is now complete,” said park spokesman James Yolles. “We have filed the application to obtain our notice of completion, and await its response. The bridge remains on track to reopen this spring.”
The eight-foot wide, nearly $4-million walkway — conceived and built by “genius” inventor Ted Zoli — zigzags from the playspace on Columbia Heights down to the park, a 450-foot stretch that gives walkers a fast route down to the water, as well as a short hike to the Promenade for guests of the park’s fancy new hotel.
It first opened in March 2013, but was closed in August 2014 due to an “inherently flawed” design for which park honchos later sued the company of the genius whose brainchild it was.
That flaw? For one, it was way too bouncy. But members of the park’s board of directors, who got a pre-opening tour on Wednesday, say the fixed version of the bridge will be a lot less bouncy.
Ultimately, repair costs ran into seven figures, with management at the privately run park okaying $3.12 million for the big fix.
The city Department of Small Business Services — the agency that works to connect people to jobs and, for some reason, oversees maintenance of waterfront properties — is in charge of inspecting the spruced-up bridge and approving the removal of the fences currently blocking it.
The nearly three-year closure inconvenienced many locals who say they depended on it to get to the park, including one Brooklyn Heights resident who has been keeping tabs on the pathway since it closed.
“That bridge would change my life, “ said bridge lover Brendan Rees. “It did when it was open.”
