Straphangers heading out to Coney Island will be getting a spectacular new entrance to its fabled boardwalk.
City officials yesterday unveiled an $11 million plan for a new gateway to the beach that includes razing the decaying, six-decade-old West Eighth Street bridge over Surf Avenue, which connects the subway to the beachfront.
In its place, a vacant nearby lot on West 10th Street near the landmark Cyclone rollercoaster will be transformed into a grand beachfront entrance rivaling the main amusement district entrance four blocks west on Stillwell Avenue.
The new, 75-foot-wide entrance will be filled with many plantings, bike racks and seating.
It will be covered in a smooth blue pavement comprised of a heat-resistant material made from recycled glass and cement.
Kyle Sklerov, a spokesman for the city’s Economic Development Corp., said the plan would create a “more welcoming experience” for visitors while “improving pedestrian access to all of Coney Island’s amusements, as well the [New York] Aquarium and the boardwalk.”
The bridge, which many community groups consider an eyesore, would have cost millions of dollars to replace and is too costly to maintain, he said.
The city expects to raze the bridge in November after this summer’s amusement season.
The new entrance would then be completed by summer 2014, but beachgoers in the interim would still be able to reach the amusement district’s boardwalk via local side streets or walking to the 125-foot-wide Stillwell Avenue gateway.
The project is being paid for with $8 million in city funds and $3 million in federal funds secured by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY).
The project design was unveiled by city honchos yesterday during a economic development committee meeting of Brooklyn Community Board 13. The committee voted to endorse the plan, and the full board is expected to do the same as early as its general meeting on Wednesday.
The plan would then go to the city’s Design Commission in April for ratification, which is expected to be just a formality.