Eastern Parkway is now a three phase project, set to begin int he fall of 2009 and complete all phases within eighteen months.

• Phase 1 is replacement of the sewer/water main under the main roadway, to be done by DEP.
• Phase 2 involves regrading of the main road, to be done by DOT. It is expected that most of the Washington Avenue/Eastern Parkway flow improvements will be incorporated in this phase.
• Phase 3 includes the repair and widening of the median, from Washington to the Plaza. The NYC Department of Parks has the lead on this phase, but DOT will be involved as well.

The entire project will be done under the auspices of the Department of Design and Construction, with Prospect Park Alliance is doing the design for phase 3. The median will be marginally wider, and will be a uniform width from Washington Avenue to Plaza Street (no more skinny median from Underhill Avenue to Plaza Street). It will include more trees, grass verges, a two-way bike path, and far more street furniture - everything the median has east of Washington, but newer - a thing of beauty! The main road will follow its current configuration, with the zebra striped median in the middle, and two lanes in either direction plus one turning lane. The Eastern Parkway access road will still maintain four vehicle lanes - two for parking, one for double/emergency parking, and one for travel - even at its reduced width. At Washington Avenue, the geometry will be greatly simplified: on southbound Washington, the slip-off onto the west bound access road will be eliminated by bringing the curb out to encompass the bollarded area. On westbound Eastern Parkway, the slip-off from the main road to the access road will also be eliminated, by extending the median all the way to the streetlight post on Washington Avenue, encompassing all the zebra striped pavement. Appropriate pedestrian crosswalks and signals will be added. All told, a far simpler and safer design. The B71 bus is still an open question - whether it follows its current configuration (main road to access road at Washington), its actual configuration (it is actually supposed to stay only on the accessroad from Rogers to Vanderbilt), or move entirely and 'officially' onto the main road. This is still being discussed, with good points and bad points to all three plans. Look forward to seeing more updates on the project here as PHNDC learns about them.