Carlton Avenue Bridge Reopens

After more than four years, Prospect Heights and Fort Greene residents can now cross Atlantic Avenue on the Carlton Avenue bridge.

The bridge, which spans the Atlantic Yards development site, was shut in 2008 to facilitate construction of the Barclays Center, snarling traffic and forcing pedestrians to walk to Sixth or Vanderbilt avenues to get from one neighborhood to the other.

It reopened Monday morning, Sept. 24, at 9:11 a.m., with a small ceremony attended by construction workers and officials from Forest City Ratner, developer of the Atlantic Yards site.

"There were glasses and a little champagne," said N. Wayne Bailey, a Pacific Street resident and neighborhood activist who showed up to watch the opening.

As the ceremony was taking place an ambulance showed up and was allowed through, making it the first vehicle to cross the re-opened bridge, Bailey said.

On Friday, Sept. 21, officials held a ribbon-cutting for the Barclays Center, the new home of the Brooklyn Nets. The 19,000-seat arena's first event will be Friday, Sept. 28, a concert by Jay-Z. 

Although the bridge itself opened Monday morning, the block between Dean and Pacific streets wasn't opened until mid-afternoon, Bailey said. 

According to Empire State Development, the state agency overseeing construction, Pacific Street between Carlton and Sixth Avenues, which has also been closed, is slated to open Sept. 27.

However construction is far from over at Atlantic Yards. In December, groundbreaking is set to begin on the first residential tower. 

Paul Leonard contributed reporting.