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Brooklyn Heights Promenade

Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn

NEIGHBORHOODBrooklyn HeightsBOROUGHBrooklynLENGTH0.33 milesOPENED1950

The Brooklyn Heights Promenade, also called the Esplanade, is a 1,826-foot-long (557 m) platform and pedestrian walkway cantilevered over the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn, New York City, United States. With views of Lower Manhattan's skyline and the New York Harbor, it came about as the byproduct of competing proposals for the highway's route that were resolved in the midst of World War II. Actual construction came after the war. As a structure built over a roadway, the Promenade is owned by the NYCDOT and is not considered a park; however, NYC Parks maintains the entire Promenade.

Brooklyn, NY 11201 · Official site ↗

Why go

Opened October 7, 1950 as a compromise after residents fought Robert Moses's original plan to route the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway through the neighborhood, the promenade was built directly on top of the highway's triple cantilever.

Good to know

The promenade sits above an aging BQE structure slated for reconstruction — sections are expected to stay open in phases during the work rather than closing outright, but expect intermittent construction disruption as the project firms up.

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