This from our friends at New York 1.

Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn is one of the city’s great venues, but it’s not very people friendly. Now, a number of groups are coming together to try to change that. NY1’s Milanee Kapadia filed this report.

Grand Army Plaza, the gateway to Prospect Park, is adjacent to the Brooklyn Public Library, and the juncture of the borough’s major roadways; Prospect Park West, Flatbush Avenue and Eastern Parkway.

But pedestrians say getting to the Brooklyn landmark is no cakewalk.

"It’s definitely a nuisance, and it can be scary if you try to cut any corners and cross the street in a different place,” says Brooklyn resident Tom Brock. “Then it’s definitely risky, because there’s traffic coming from several different directions."

It took Tom 10 minutes to navigate his way through two crosswalks, traffic lights and a median.

Now, a coalition consisting of community groups, local institutions and elected officials have come together to make Grand Army Plaza less of a roundabout and more an easily accessible public space.

“These great opportunities have completely been cut off in little islands where people, like Eskimos, have to jump from one ice floe to another,” says Jan Gehl, an urban quality consultant. “The middle here where you have fountains and other nice things, there are no one."

Gehl is working with the coalition to figure out solutions to the plaza disconnect. He came up with a number of plans, such as building a tunnel under the plaza for cars. But it is the most expensive option.

“Or more lower cost solutions such as improved signal timing to allow pedestrians more time to reach the plaza, to re-channeling traffic so that there is actually a dedicated pedestrian walkway or connection to the park," says Paul Steely White of Transportation Alternatives.

The GAP coalition says it may take years before a final plan is chosen and implemented.

Pedestrians say they are willing to wait for the day when getting to the plaza is not equivalent to navigating the Indy 500.

“I think it’s definitely a good idea,” says pedestrian Mark Zaharis. “I think it is a nice spot, it’s a beautiful fountain, it would be nice for people to come through here and not worry about much if you’re walking.”

To check out some of the coalition’s plans, visit www.transalt.org.