Street milling and resurfacing almost completed in Brooklyn Heights

Here come the road rollers. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — Street milling and resurfacing has just about wrapped up in Brooklyn Heights and nearby neighborhoods after several busy — and noisy — weeks throughout November and early December.

Work for this week, as of press deadline, included a section of Cranberry Street in the north Heights, and concrete repair on Henry Street near Joralemon Street.

The seemingly-nonstop milling impacted some work-from-home residents, who temporarily decamped to coffee shops and the library in search of peace — but most agree the pothole-free streets were worth the annoyance, and the new surfaces should be smooth for years to come.

The bumpy surface of Henry Street near Orange Street after milling. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

Once a street has been resurfaced, it is considered “protected” from further resurfacing for five years. If utilities need to dig into a protected street, they pay more for the privilege.

“We are grateful to the Department of Transportation for prioritizing street repair work across our neighborhood,” the Brooklyn Heights Association said in its newsletter.

There’s a reason why it seemed like so many local streets were being milled at the same time, according to the New York City Department of Transportation: This is how road resurfacing works. DOT crews move around the city working on clusters of streets within a geographic area.

Young truck fans would have loved the activity on Henry Street during resurfacing. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

During milling — the noisy part — the surface layer of the street is ground off. In resurfacing, hot asphalt is laid down atop the roadway and rolled smooth with a road roller. (Fun fact: Steamrollers haven’t been made since the 1950s but the descriptive term “steamrolled” is still widely used.)

Every year NYC DOT pushes to reach its annual target of repairing nearly 1,200 miles of “lane miles” before the holiday embargo, which is officially now in place until Jan. 2 (except for emergency roadwork).