BY: LUIS ANGEL PEREZ MARTINEZ
The delayed reconstruction of a pedestrian bridge over the Belt Parkway is drawing outrage from the Bath Beach community because the delay limits access to the New York Harbor waterfront for the entire neighborhood.
The bridge was closed in 2021 and was then demolished in 2022. The project was supposed to be completed in the fall of 2023, but not much progress has been made. The completion of the project has since been pushed to mid-2026, according to State Assemblymember William Colton, who represents District 47, including Bath Beach and surrounding neighborhoods.
“The Bridge was closed in 2021 for what was supposed to be a 27-month-long project. It’s now 2025, and not only have they not reopened the bridge, its completion is now delayed till at least mid-2026, which is very simply unacceptable,” said Colton.
The 17th Avenue Bridge crosses over the Belt Parkway, starting at Shore Road and 17th Avenue and terminating at the waterfront path, while getting views of Gravesend Bay.
The delay affects the community, as residents may need to take an additional 20 or 30 minutes to even get access to the waterfront. They must walk all the way to another neighborhood, either Bensonhurst or Bay Ridge.
The construction of the bridge could be compared to the time it took to build the Verrazzano Bridge. It took approximately five years to complete, from August 1959 to November 1964. That bridge is nearly a mile long and spans all of New York Harbor, connecting Staten Island to Brooklyn. The 17th Avenue Bridge is approximately a few hundred feet long.
The waterfront is a community space for people to walk, run, or bike that passes under the Verrazzano Bridge.
“This is so outrageous, I really miss walking the waterfront, as I have been walking there since I was a young kid. This shouldn’t take that long to reconstruct the bridge, as from what I see, there’s no progress at all, so what am I going to do?” said Janett Romero, a resident who has lived in Bath Beach for over 15 years.