Piers 3 and 4 Uplands open, linking Brooklyn Bridge Park greenway

The Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway is another step closer to being complete thanks to the grand opening of the Piers 3 and 4 Uplands, the final missing link connecting Brooklyn Bridge Park’s (BBP) 85 acres of recreational piers and parkland.

The six-acre Uplands opened amid much fanfare on November 16, with hundreds of people lining the landscaped walkways, exploring the lawns, and climbing the granite terrace and the first of several hills to get an even better view of the New York harbor and skyline. The expanse took a year to construct and stretches along the waterfront between Montague and Orange Streets.

“We are very pleased to see this important section of the park coming to life, and connecting more visitors to the waterfront,” said Nancy Webster, executive director of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy. “The conservancy looks forward to using this new landscape to provide even more free public programming to our community.”

“The completion of the park-wide greenway is an important milestone for [BBP].  Building a permanent link between Piers 1 and 6 has been an overriding goal of this community for over a generation and we are thrilled to welcome everyone here today,” said Regina Myer, BBP’s president.  “The addition of the sound attenuating hill creates a contemplative park experience that will enhance our new passive recreation areas.”

Elected officials all cheered the completion of the Uplands as a victory for Brooklynites and community groups who have long advocated for more green and accessible public recreational space.

As Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz put it, “The new, expanded Brooklyn Bridge Park means more New Yorkers can picnic, pedal, promenade and people-watch in a scenic, sweet spot in the County of Kings, to which I say, ‘play on.’”

In addition to serving as a connector between the popular Pier 1 lawns and eateries, Pier 2’s pop-up pool and ongoing construction of sports courts, and Piers 5 and 6’s sports and educational spaces, the Piers 3 and 4 Uplands also connect a 2.5 mile long portion—from Old Fulton Street to Valentino Pier—of the 14-mile long Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway.

The Uplands are also a destination in their own right.

The recreational and scenic parklands are separated from the traffic of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway by the hills and meadow grasses that were designed to rise 30 feet above the park and keep the city sounds away.

Although the Greenway and Granite Terrace are open to the public now, the lawns will remain closed until spring, 2014 to allow for the grass to grow fully.