Barclays Center transportation engineering + planning

Sam Schwartz was retained by Forest City Ratner Companies to provide transportation engineering and planning services for the Barclays Center, an 18,000-seat arena that hosts the NBA’s Nets as well as numerous events. The arena is a centerpiece of the Atlantic Yards project, the largest development in Brooklyn's history. Sam Schwartz’s services included logistics planning, agency coordination, traffic analysis, and development of traffic and pedestrian mitigation plans to adapt to changes to the site throughout the construction process.

Sam Schwartz also prepared a comprehensive transportation demand management plan for the arena in order to limit the number of private vehicles traveling to events and maximize the use of transit and other modes. TDM measures included developing methods to promote transit and discourage driving; conducting transit analysis and providing recommendations for subway, rail and bus service enhancements; analyzing the effects of halving the amount of on-site parking spaces; implementing parking management plans to coordinate off-site facilities controlled by multiple operators; coordinating remote parking facilities and shuttle buses on event days; and coordinating event-day management and arena/agency communications. As part of event-day management, Sam Schwartz deployed Pedestrian Traffic Managers to intersections and sidewalks adjacent to the arena to ensure the smooth and safe flow of pedestrians.

Initial results indicate that the TDM plan has been largely successful, with high numbers of event attendees utilizing transit and minimal traffic impacts on area roadways.

Markets / Sports + Venues / Services / Traffic / Transportation Planning