Running: New Route (Brooklyn Bridge Park)

I moved to Brooklyn in 1998.  At the time, the waterfront below the Brooklyn Heights Promenade was a set of nondescript warehouses.   Progress has been slow, but Empire State Park opened a year or so later.  In the Spring Pier 1 opened as a landscaped island in the East River.  Soon after that Pier 6 opened with a world class playground.  Now, a bike path has opened connecting Piers 1 and 6.  The symbolic significance of this cannot be overestimated.  Much of the Park is still a work in progress, but now one can run from the base of the Manhattan Bridge to the foot of Atlantic Avenue without leaving the waterfront.   This creates tremendous opportunities for linking up formerly disparate running routes, and it is yet another sign that New York City is slowly learning how to make effective use of its abundant waterfront.