The New York City Department of Transportation has released to some community boards in Brooklyn its plans to alter Grand Army Plaza at the entrance to Prospect Park in Brooklyn, one of the city's most important and impressive intersections.

The plan would eliminate "unnecessary thru lanes at the north and south intersections" and "normalize" the north intersection with landscaped islands and one new crosswalk."

It would also "separate westbound vehicles from southbound Flatbush traffic and calm traffic on the east side of inside circle." It would construct one new and two enlarged landscaped islands at the southwest and add five new crosswalks to the south end.

In addition, it would complete bicycle connections to the southern area and upgrade Plaza Street bike lane to two-way paths and expand and enhance plaza spaces in front of park and between arch and fountain.

The plan also would allegedly seamlessly integrate with Eastern Parkway and Prospect Park West projects.

Assistant Commission of the Department of Transportation Ryan Russo described the plan to a joint meeting of three community boards in Brooklyn April 30 as "a pretty dramatic and bold, exciting plan" and said that the department hopes to begin implementation of the plan in August.

"The two-way bike segments that are planned for the south end will feed into a two-way, parking protected loop around Plaza Street. Together with the Prospect Park West two-way path and a potential two-way path on Eastern Parkway (part of a capital project that's taking the city forever to build), these changes will make Grand Army plaza a safe, convenient, and very useful hub in Brooklyn's bike network, linking up with bike lanes on Vanderbilt Avenue and side streets heading into Park Slope," according to Streetsblog.org.

Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn, New York is an 11-acre oval plaza that forms the main entrance to Prospect Park. It was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux in 1867 and consists of concentric rings arranged as streets, with the outer ring being named Plaza Street.

The inner ring was intended to be a circle, but it actually was arranged as Flatbush Avenue with eight radial roads connecting: Vanderbilt Avenue; Butler Place; Saint John's Place (twice); Lincoln Place; Eastern Parkway; Prospect Park West; Union Street; and Berkeley Place.

Originally known as Prospect Park Plaza, it was renamed in 1926, and is perhaps best known for the Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial Arch, Brooklyn's version of the Arc de Triomphe. It is also the site of the Bailey Fountain and a monument to John F. Kennedy, as well as statues of Civil War generals Gouverneur Kemble Warren and Henry Warner Slocum, along with busts of notable Brooklyn citizens Alexander J.C. Skene and Henry W. Maxwell.

The arch was designed by John H. Duncan who would later design Grants Tomb in Riverside Park in Manhattan.

In 1894, the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White suggested the arch have monumental statues and the Parks Department engaged Frederick MacMonnies to design three sculptural groupings for the Arch, the Quadriga, The Spirit of the Army, and The Spirit of the Navy.

The Quadriga resides at the top and depicts the lady Columbia, an allegorical representation of the United States, riding in a chariot drawn by two horses.

According to Wilkopedia, in 1976 the Lady Columbia figure on the Quadriga fell out of its chariot. The Arch was restored in 1980 and again in 2000.

The Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument received landmark designation in 1973 and two years later all of Grand Army Plaza became a New York City historic landmark.

For the past several years a popular green market/farmers market is held on the plaza in front of Prospect Park every Saturday.

An article by Kathleen Ziegenfuss at the Project for Public Places said that Grand Army Plaza "is terrifying to walk through, horrendous to bike through, and even scary to drive through."