Downtown is turning into a real walker's wonderland.

The city has almost finished creating a pedestrian plaza at the corner of Hoyt and Schermerhorn streets, offering bipeds a bit of space in the bustling neighborhood.

The $5,000 project brings a 17-foot by 70-foot walking and sitting area to the front of the main entrance to the Hoyt-Schermerhorn train station -- protected from traffic and newly painted cycling routes by a row of potted plants.

"It's some much-needed room to breath on a very crowded sidewalk in Downtown Brooklyn," said Wiley Norvell, a spokesman for Transportation Alternatives, the pedestrian and bike advocacy group. "Previously, this is space that was sitting under parked cars the entire day while pedestrians squeezed onto a few feet of sidewalk. Now that's really turned on its head."

The project -- which reclaimed a chunk of sidewalk space often covered by parked police cars -- started ahead of the expected November launch date and will be completed in the coming weeks when workers install two benches in the piazza, according to the Department of Transportation.

[more at: http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/32/44/32_44_bm_schermerhorn_plaza.html]