Metro

Boards walk out of Coney

Part of the world-famous Coney Island boardwalk will soon look like a sidewalk.

Parks workers have begun replacing the traditional wood planks with large cement slabs along a three-block stretch on the Brighton Beach section of the Riegelman Boardwalk.

The strip of paved walkway will run from Ocean Parkway to Brighton First Road.

Parks Department spokesman Phil Abramson said staff are trying to determine whether the concrete slabs handle wear and tear better than wood planks, or the synthetic lumber planks recently installed at Steeplechase Pier.

Abramson said the city is shifting to cement to help save trees.

The concrete slabs will have a tan hue and will be textured to resemble sand and pebbles, he said, noting that concrete could last a century — rather than three or four decades like the existing wood planks.

The study will help determine what material should be used for other parts of the boardwalk in need of being fixed, although Abramson said the goal is to keep wood walkways in Coney Island’s amusement area.

Geoffrey Croft, of the nonprofit New York City Park Advocates, said it appears Brighton Beach is being “singled out over a maintenance issue.”

“It’s no longer a boardwalk, it’s a sidewalk,” he added.

Croft also expressed concern that the cement might be too hot to walk on barefoot during the peak summer season.