West St South and Battery Place Project

[ZippyTheChimp]

The DOT has begun staging construction equipment on the east side of West St between W Thames (Brooklyn Battery Tunnel entrance) and Battery Pl. Traffic and the bikeway will be shifted west while the Battery Park underpass portal is demolished. The parking lot in the middle of Battery Pl will be eliminated and the street moved south so the north sidewalk can be expanded.

DOT diagrams (http://www.route9a.com/displayboards_openhse-4-14-04.html)


lhttp://www.downtownexpress.com/

Little West park dreams seem over

By Josh Rogers

The little known street known as Little West St. once was thought to be an area for more recreational park space in Battery Park City, but that idea has been scrapped to keep the street open and add trees to a promenade along the bigger West St.

Community Board 1 has long advocated active recreation space just about anywhere possible in Lower Manhattan and some members were surprised to learn last week at a state Dept. of Transportation hearing that there would be none near the south end of West St.

Tom Goodkind, a C.B.1 member, said Little West St. could be closed and the buildings that are expected to be built in the south would still have streets on three sides.

“It would be a win for the community to get some recreation,” Goodkind said this week. “We don’t need another road. They’ve got three-way access.”

Tim Carey, president of the Battery Park City Authority, said park space on Little West is based on an old and never-implemented planning document that included parks on Little West between First and Third Place. The authority hired landscape architect Ken Smith to come up with the plan in 1997.

“Things change,” Carey said in a telephone interview. For instance, he said Site 2 has been divided into two to allow for a residential building on Little West and Second Pl. and a women’s history museum at the west half of the site. Construction on the residential building being developed by Millennium Partners is expected to begin in January and the museum has been delayed. Carey said the building will need Little West access.

A Millennium executive did not return a call seeking comment.

Carey implied there was room for active recreation along West St. itself but said there was a desire to create a friendly pedestrian walkway connecting the World Trade Center memorial to Battery Park, which includes Pier A and the Statue of Liberty ferry site.

“The governor and mayor feel there should be a grand promenade — a Champs Elysees where you could walk from ground zero to the ferries and Pier A,” said Carey, an appointee and friend of Gov. George Pataki.

The West St. promenade is just outside the authority’s authority, but the agency does have control of Little West St. until 2069, based on a 1993 agreement with the city in which the B.P.C.A. paid the city $150 million, Carey said.

Anthony Notaro, chairperson of C.B. 1’s B.P.C. committee, said there is enough room for what everyone wants. “You could have a tree-lined promenade and you could have active stuff too,” he said.

Notaro said he has had several discussions with state Transportation officials and he is hopeful there can be a change. He said D.O.T. officials have given him assurances that they are still open to comments and they will make another presentation. Construction is scheduled to begin later this month on the $140 million project, but Notaro said a final decision about Little West could be made six months or so after construction begins.

State Transportation officials did not comment on Dec. 9.

The southern part of the project goes from Battery Pl. to W. Thames St. and Notaro said it looks to him like the narrow open space area would double if Little West were included.

Dan Flannery, general manager of the Ritz-Carlton at the southern tip of Battery Park City, said Little West St. must remain open at least near the hotel.

“Little West St. is our driveway,” he said. “There is no other place for the cabs to line up.” And if the street closed, “it would put us out of business.” Flannery said it wouldn’t hurt the hotel if the street were closed immediately to the north, but he had no way to assess whether that was a feasible solution.

He said D.O.T. and the authority have been very open and accommodating and have adjusted the plans accordingly. Originally, D.O.T. wanted to reduce Little West from three to two lanes, but agreed to build a layby area near the hotel for cabs and to allow the bus and limo traffic moving.

“We love the plans, we love the park space,” he said. “There has to be a balance between the different interests.”


Josh@DowntownExpress.com

Downtown Express and downtownexpress.com
are registered trademarks of Community Media, LLC


Little West St has never been opened, except for one block at the Ritz Carlton. The hotel does need it, but only for traffic to turn around and get back on Battery Pl.

[NYatKNIGHT]

Looks good. Those portal treatments are an improvement too (I'd pick concept B). Isn't there a plan for some West Street promenade - downtown's "Champs Elysee", as the LMDC worded it. I'm just wondering if this fits with that, and I don't see why it shouldn't, or will it all be ripped up in 5 years with some grander designs for West St.?

[ZippyTheChimp]

This is the final plan for the portion of West St below the BBT, subject to any modifications as mentioned in the article. It grew out of a pre-09/11 improvement that was in planning for Battery Pl-State St, as well as Battery Park. The key was the elimination of the parking lot to create room for wider sidewalks and a continuation of the bikeway to link with the East River. A plaza was planned for the end of West St near Pier A as a gateway to Battery Park.

The plan fit easily with the overall post 09/11 visions for West St.

There may be some movement at Pier A. No construction, but they did put up a new fence. :P

[NYatKNIGHT]

Small miracles....

[billyblancoNYC]

What an improvement this will be. Finally. That parking lot was ridiculous. I wish they would improve the hideous FDR, too. Those stones would make a big improvment in that ugly roadway.

[ZippyTheChimp]

The parking lot in front of 17 Battery Place is finally gone.

[billyblancoNYC]

The parking lot in front of 17 Battery Place is finally gone.

Wonderful to see. Really a great project.

[asg]

I am excited about this project finally being underway (we live on Battery Place facing West St.), but the project really only amounts to visual improvements. There are no meaningful changes to the traffic patterns for both pedestrians and cars. Crossing West St. will still involve the same exercise in frustration it currently does, i.e., lengthy (and dangerous) waits to cross West St. and then again to cross the tunnel exit.

Converting West St. into a grand boulevard makes sense, and the aesthetic enhancements are worthwhile (I also prefer the portal concept B), but without improvements to traffic flow, the DoT is missing an opportunity to address the real problems with this section of Lower West Street. The posted speed on West St. is 35mph (the design speed was probably 60mph) but most vehicles travel much faster than that. Pedestrian bridges are not a viable solution to this problem as the lifts are out of service more often than not, but better enforcement of the speed regulations and the introduction of pedestrian only crossing controls could be.

[ZippyTheChimp]

It is stated that the boundary for this segment is West Thames St, but I don't think the BBT entrance/exit is included in the project. That design may be dependent on what is done on West St north of the BBT.

The main scope of this project is the West St-Battery Pl area, and the pedestrian, traffic, and aesthetic improvements are substantial.

A dangerous spot on West St is the Morris St pedestrian-only crosswalk on West St, just south of the BBT exit. Although controlled by a traffic light, the west side is screened from the view of traffic exiting the BBT and headed for the FDR underpass.

The BBT entry/exit plaza is a big block to pedestrian traffic on the east side of West St. I don't know what can be done here, other than a pedestrian bride. But up/down pedestrian bridges (even with working elevators) are not good connectors to maintain street life. A study of the Tribeca Bridge on Chambers St showed, after discounting Stuyvesant students with a 2nd floor entrance into the school, less than 10 percent of pedestrians used the bridge.

Traffic calming will be a challenge on West St, because the existing "street" did not replace a street, but the Miller Highway, and inherited the elevated roadway's traffic patterns.

[asg]

After the initial six WTC proposals were presented, there was much talk about the boulevard concept which included a long West St. tunnel, from the BBT exit up to some location north of the Trade Center site (I don’t recall where the northern terminus was planned), which was a compelling part of some of the plans. A considerable amount of discussion about the merits of a tunnel under West Street with local access roads (think Ocean Parkway) and a bold pedestrian promenade above eventually resulted in the short by-pass option being pursued. The short by-pass plan, in my opinion, solves comparatively few problems for the dollars spent, and is therefore unwarranted.

A truly grand concept that sought to solve many of Lower Manhattan’s circulation problems was mentioned but then quickly forgotten. This plan proposed a tunnel of nearly the same size and impact as Boston’s Central Artery project – it would link the Brooklyn Battery and Holland tunnels via a full-length, 8-lane tunnel under West Street with a new motorway below Canal St. This broad reaching plan would’ve provided regional access to Brooklyn and LI directly from New Jersey without clogging up local streets.

Though, it would be hard to imagine Canal Street without bumper to bumper traffic.

[billyblancoNYC]

http://tribecatrib.com/

by Barry Owens


Work has begun on the South Promenade, a New York State Department of Transportation project that will turn a traffic island on lower West Street into a tree-lined pedestrian pathway. Contractors began paving work last month on the $70 million Route 9A project that will narrow West Street's wide traffic lanes to create broader sidewalks at each curb and a green path down the middle.

When it is complete in 2006, pedestrians will find an oasis in the middle of a state highway that will stretch from Battery Park to West Thames Street. It will be lined with park benches, Bradford Pear trees and punctuated with modest open spaces and plazas. What pedestrians won't find are the tennis and basketball courts that some in the neighborhood had hoped for.

During a presentation of the project to the Battery Park City Committee of Community Board 1 on Feb. 1, Lauren Loscialo, a project manager with Vollmer Associates, a landscape consulting group hired by the DOT, explained why.

"Those spaces could fit in here," she said, overlaying graphics of tennis, handball and basketball courts onto a digital rendering of the plan," However, the promenade would be nonfunctional." The graphics blotted out the trees at both sides and left little room for benches or even a sidewalk. At its widest, the promenade is 35 feet, making all but the least intrusive recreation equipment practical, Loscialo said.

She added that tennis and basketball courts could be incorporated into later phases of the promenade as there are plans to eventually extend the path to the World Trade Center site. For now, the plan calls for installing modest, sculptural exercise equipment at each of the plaza areas that correspond with the street intersections along the route.

At First Place, a sculptural garden of shaped metal beams that double as fitness equipment for stretching, jumping and balance exercises. At Second Place, a small amphitheater and arbor in the center with boulder-like balls of rounded concrete outside the circle for exercise, such as yoga and sit-ups, and play for toddlers. At Third Place, a boulder garden of randomly sized and shaped stones for stepping and climbing. Each of the exercise stations will feature posted instructions and suggestions for using the equipment. The plan also calls for a 100-square-foot lawn between Third Place and West Thames.

The exercise stations were a compromise for Community Board 1, particularly for Battery Park City members who had hopes that the promenade would serve more than tourists by including ample space for active recreation. Nearly all on the committee were pleased, however, that the community was being served with the exercise stations. The plan was approved by a 9-1 vote, with the lone dissent coming from Tom Goodkind, a vocal proponent of active recreation space on the promenade.

"These stations may be a good idea, but I think it is stretch," he said. "We asked for active recreation space, not little exercise stations."

"I normally would agree that exercise stations don't work," said Heather Sporn, a deputy director of the project with the DOT, "but every morning I see people in Battery Park City exercising and stretching. I think it will be used."

[ZippyTheChimp]

They should not have constructed that useless Little West St. A driveway loop around the hotel would have been sufficient.

[NYCResident]

http://www.downtownexpress.com

Transportation officials propose West St. exercise stands


State Tranportation’s plan for West St. south of West Thames St.

By Ronda Kaysen

Downtowners are going to get in shape — whether they like it or not. The city’s Department of Transportation unveiled plans last week to pepper promenade south, a stretch of parkland between Battery Place and West Thames St. now under development, with artsy exercise and activity stations.

In response to cries from community members to develop an “active” promenade at the tail end of Route 9A, the State D.O.T. — with the help of Vollmer Associates, a landscape architecture firm — presented an enhanced design for the area at a Jan. 27 Community Board 1 Battery Park City Committee meeting. Downtowners may soon frolic in a sculptural garden at First Place, a “whimsical arbor” at Second Place and a boulder garden at Third Place.

Construction began on the southernmost portion of the promenade late last year and will be completed in the spring of 2006. The new design elements, once finalized, will be added after work is finished, according to Heather Sporn, deputy director for the State D.O.T.

The design elements near Route 9A or West St. “really incorporate both visitors and residents with something that is visually pleasing,” Sporn said at the meeting.

Two-person strengthening bars, sit up benches and bars that can be used for push-ups or stretching will be scattered along the perimeter of the promenade at First Place so users will be able to work at a distance from one another and other visitors to the area will not interfere. “This is a really good way to incorporate exercise stations,” said Lauren Loscialo, a Vollmer representative, at the meeting.

Second Place will include a scattering of cubes that can be used for various activities including yoga and step exercises. Located around the main gathering area and beneath the shade of the Bradford Callery Pear trees that line the length of the South Promenade, the cubes will be made out of re-enforced cast stone and can also be used as seats or play objects for children.

The boulder garden at Third Place will include hand-selected boulders of various sizes scattered throughout the area. The boulders can be used for exercise or as playthings for kids.

“It’s a design that’s context sensitive,” said Loscialo. “[The objects] have a balance of aesthetics, functionality and long-term maintenance.”

Committee members responded favorably to the D.O.T.’s suggestions for the promenade, although some members had concerns about the activity stations.

“They’re weird. I don’t know if people actually use them,” committee member Tom Goodkind said of the exercise stations. “We asked for active recreation, not little exercise stations.”

Committee member Bill Love wondered if another block of Little West St., which runs along the promenade, could be converted into park space. In the current plan, Little West St. will be narrowed from three lanes to two and end at Third Place instead of West Thames St., converting a one-block swath of the street between Third Place and West Thames St. into a 100-foot wide strip of parkland.

Anthony Notaro, the committee’s chairperson, said no more of Little West St. can be sacrificed for the park. “Little West St. is a city-mapped street. To get that de-mapped is a major issue,” he said.

Landscaping plans for the acquired strip will be worked out at a later date. The remainder of the street will become a one way, northbound street.

“We are really looking at [the new parkland between Third Place and West Thames St.] as a placeholder for a development to come north of here,” Losciallo said. Once the development begins on the northern portion of the promenade, “the lawn could be designed to be what the community needs it to be,” she said. The D.O.T. will begin discussions with the community about design ideas for the northern portion of the promenade, from West Thames St. to Albany St., in the coming months.

Ronda@DowntownExpress.com

[BPC]

They should not have constructed that useless Little West St. A driveway loop around the hotel would have been sufficient.

Agreed. It is unclear to me why that street was even extended north of the Ritz in the first place. For that past three years, it has been fenced off and used exclusively by rollerbladers.

[ZippyTheChimp]

The street predates the hotel. I remember it was used as an access road for construction vehicles when the hotel was going up.

I don't remember the rationale for the street, but it may have had to do with the park. The original street plan had the cross streets extended to West St.

[ZippyTheChimp]

Taken Aug 29, 2005

The portal concrete has been chiseled away.

The form of the new Battery Pl has begun to take shape, but the area is a construction mess. In the opposite direction, there is ongoing IRT South St Station work.

[BPC]

It is a mess, and the weekend closures are unending. It seems like the gist of the plan is to extend the roof of the underpass an extra couple hundred feet northbound on to West Street. The roof itself is not up yet, but the dividing wall is almost done.

[ZippyTheChimp]

I think that moving the tunnel portal is only planned for the East River side. Battery Pl is being reconfigured (parking island eliminated) to improve pedestrian crossings.

http://www.lowermanhattan.info/construction/looking_ahead/promenade_south.asp

Click on "View an Animation."

[NYatKNIGHT]

A Little Easier Getting Around Downtown

By DAVID W. DUNLAP (http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=bylL&v1=DAVID W. DUNLAP&fdq=19960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=DAVID W. DUNLAP&inline=nyt-per)

Published: November 2, 2005

There is a U-turn at the end of the tunnel.

And broader sidewalks. And oak trees. And granite walls instead of concrete barriers.

Those, at least, are consolations offered by the State Transportation Department for the clamorous uprooting of an area around Battery Park caused by the $76.4 million, 20-month reconstruction of the southernmost blocks of West Street-Route 9A.

"Right now, people see it as a nuisance," said John P. Cahill, the top downtown development official and Gov. George E. Pataki's (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/george_e_pataki/index.html?inline=nyt-per) chief of staff. "People are going to wake up and realize that this is going to be a marked improvement in the quality of life."

The first obvious milestone is the scheduled opening today of a new U-turn lane over the portal to the Battery Park Underpass. This lane and an adjoining kidney-shaped pedestrian island were created by extending the tunnel roof about 80 feet.

The new lane will allow southbound traffic on Route 9A to turn north and get to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel and nearby blocks without crossing two intersections on Battery Place. Separating these movements will untangle a mixing bowl where "even we get a little confused," said Tim Gilchrist, the director of downstate transportation strategy.

An even more noticeable improvement should become apparent in May with the completion of a 9,600-square-foot teardrop-shaped landscaped plaza and seating area in front of the landmark Whitehall Building at 17 Battery Place, replacing a parking lot.

"Our charge from the governor was to create a pedestrian-friendly environment," Mr. Gilchrist said. That also means widening sidewalks on West Street and building a tree-lined promenade and bicycle path in Battery Park City, from West Thames Street to Battery Place, with small plazas at each intersection.

"We are trying to unify the east and west sides of the street," said Heather T. Sporn, deputy director of the Route 9A project for the Transportation Department.

While it may not rank with Nixon in China (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/china/index.html?inline=nyt-geo) or the Golden Spike, this was a formidable east-west chasm to close.

Work had to be coordinated with the city and with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is expanding the South Ferry subway terminal. It also had to be staged around electrical transformer vaults, power lines, water mains, gas mains, street lights and fire hydrants. "To make all these small things work, you've got to move a million things," said Patrick J. Prancl, the engineer in charge.

The work has largely cut off the Whitehall Building from its surroundings.

"It's been very difficult, to say the least, getting home deliveries," said Jack Zito, resident manager of the Ocean apartments in the upper floors of the Whitehall Building. (Offices are on the lower floors.) "Car access has sometimes been limited to zero. As the project proceeded, the area in front of the building became a storage area."

The Amish Market in the Whitehall Building also saw a large drop in the number of people doing substantial marketing after the parking spaces were eliminated.

That said, Mr. Zito added that transportation officials and the construction contractor, Conti Enterprises, had responded to complaints. He also said the new plaza would make the whole area feel more residential, keep traffic a bit farther away from the entrance and create a parklike atmosphere for what is, after all, the building's front yard.

The Skyscraper Museum at 39 Battery Place is awaiting the end of its isolation on "the other side of an impossible obstacle course," said Carol Willis, the director. As for silver linings, she said: "I greet with great delight the opening of any large public space in front of the Whitehall Building. I hope we can get to it."

The next step, beginning in 2007, will be reconstructing the highway from Thames Street to Chambers Street, including the 900-foot portion alongside the World Trade Center site. This segment was so near completion once before that a ribbon-cutting ceremony was scheduled. In October 2001.

Copyright 2005 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

[ZippyTheChimp]

http://img500.imageshack.us/img500/2640/batterypl01c8ak.th.jpg (http://img500.imageshack.us/my.php?image=batterypl01c8ak.jpg)

Sidewalk widened about 5 feet.
http://img500.imageshack.us/img500/4722/batterypl02c4nu.th.jpg (http://img500.imageshack.us/my.php?image=batterypl02c4nu.jpg)

17 Battery Pl gets a plaza.
http://img500.imageshack.us/img500/4963/batterypl03c4qk.th.jpg (http://img500.imageshack.us/my.php?image=batterypl03c4qk.jpg)

[lofter1]

This will be a big improvement for this area -- which used to be a mess of parking / asphalt -- and not at all pedestrian friendly.

Across the street in Battery Park the work on extending the subway lines has moved ahead with the arrival of tractors and other heavy equipment into the north edge of the park across from the old Customs House. Once the underground work is complete the renovation / rebuilding of the "new" Battery Park will take place, including new circulation paths and bike lanes.

http://www.thebattery.org/rebuilding/design.html

http://www.thebattery.org/images/bikeway_systemmap.jpg

http://www.thebattery.org/images/masterplan.jpg

[hey19932]

how is "promenade south/9a " coming along ...have they started planting the trees yet?

[BPC]

No. They've been focusing on the roadwork first.

[hey19932]

any idea on when they will start to plant them?

[ablarc]

Castle Clinton: sometimes roofed and sometimes open to the sky. Does anyone have a photo record of its checkered past in all its incarnations?

[ZippyTheChimp]

Here's a start. (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?p=91797#post91797)

[BPC]

Wow, the 1824 design is really something. It looks like Frank Lloyd Wright's Johnson Wax building.

[BPC]

any idea on when they will start to plant them?

If I am reading this schedule correctly, it looks like plantings will begin in October 2008: http://www.dot.state.ny.us/route9a/files/takeaway12-13-05.pdf . But there are plenty of trees there now.

[Kris]

July 6, 2006
Manhattan: Promenade South Project Opens
By WINNIE HU

Gov. George E. Pataki and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg joined the festivities yesterday to celebrate the completion of a broad, tree-lined promenade extending along both sides of West Street (Route 9A) from West Thames Street to Battery Place in Lower Manhattan. What was once a utilitarian roadway was transformed over 18 months into Promenade South, a recreational area with more than 200 trees and 7,000 shrubs, stone walls and benches, and additional public open spaces, including a piazza.

Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

[hey19932]

cool! any pics?

[BPC]

cool! any pics?

It's just a really wide sidewalk to nowhere. I "promenaded" down it this morning, on a sunny Saturday afternoon, and it was empty. It's what you get when you let the traffic engineers design pedestrian spaces.

[ablarc]

It's just a really wide sidewalk to nowhere. I "promenaded" down it this morning, on a sunny Saturday afternoon, and it was empty. It's what you get when you let the traffic engineers design pedestrian spaces.
What if you had promenaded on a weekday?

Or is it just too wide, period?

If someone besides traffic engineers had designed it at that width, would it have had more people? Due to what?

[BPC]

I walk by it every morning on the way to work (it has been open for a week), and I have never seen anyone on it. It is just way, way too wide. It feels about twice as wide as the BPC Esplanade, which has river views. We need sidewalks that wide in Times Square, not along Lower West Street. There will be a few new apartment buildings constructed along side it in the next few years, which will increase the foot traffic somewhat, but ultimately there is just no point to it. There is already a bicycle/rollerblading track that runs alongside of it, so the whole thing is just for strollers. But who needs to stroll alongside a highway, when there is a riverside Esplanade just a block away?

In answer to your question, if some specialists in urban design had designed it, there would have been much less pavement for pavement's sake. Instead, much more of the space would have been devoted to giving persons a reason to use the space in the first place.

[ablarc]

In answer to your question, if some specialists in urban design had designed it, there would have been much less pavement for pavement's sake. Instead, much more of the space would have been devoted to giving persons a reason to use the space in the first place.
Would it work to set up a farmers' market on it at appropriate times?

In Paris, it might house shooting galleries.

If street vendors were encouraged to set up food stalls, would there be lunchtime customers?

Could you set up a fifteen foot wide swath of retail establishments as a buffer against West Street traffic? Like some places in Barcelona?

How about just skeletal structures that could be colonized on different days of the week by different kinds of merchants? Books one day, stamps and coins another, produce yet another day, and antiques on Sundays. A street market like the approach to Clignancourt? African masks and leather handbags? Street vendor heaven?

Or is it just hopeless?

[BPC]

I think those are all great ideas. Maybe we can get you a consulting contract with the DOT.

[ablarc]

great ideas...
Would they work?

[BPC]

Would it work to set up a farmers' market on it at appropriate times?

Yes. We still have not replaced the WTC green market, and the neighborhood is not far more residential than it was pre 9/11.


In Paris, it might house shooting galleries.

No. That would violate City law. Plus, since 9/11, we all have PSTD, and thus jarring noises are not particularly welcome around here.


If street vendors were encouraged to set up food stalls, would there be lunchtime customers?

Perhaps. But the residential conversions have left fewer and fewer office workers along Lower West Street. Still, there always are plenty of tourists looking for cheap eats.


Could you set up a fifteen foot wide swath of retail establishments as a buffer against West Street traffic? Like some places in Barcelona?

In theory, but my concern would be that we would end up with that same set of trinket vendors who populate all of those God-awful summer street fairs we get here in Manhattan.


How about just skeletal structures that could be colonized on different days of the week by different kinds of merchants? Books one day, stamps and coins another, produce yet another day, and antiques on Sundays. A street market like the approach to Clignancourt? African masks and leather handbags? Street vendor heaven?

This might work, if we are talking about arts and crafts and such, and not just knock off Rolexes, which is what is currently hawked in Battery Park.

[ZippyTheChimp]

What if you had promenaded on a weekday?

Or is it just too wide, period?

If someone besides traffic engineers had designed it at that width, would it have had more people? Due to what?
Most of the problems with the promenade are temporary.

1. It isn't finished yet.

Most of the benches haven't been installed, except for 100 ft on the north side.
http://img449.imageshack.us/img449/7443/batterypl08c5ri.th.jpg (http://img449.imageshack.us/my.php?image=batterypl08c5ri.jpg)

Two of the three streets are still blocked by construction.
http://img312.imageshack.us/img312/8964/batterypl10c4rd.th.jpg (http://img312.imageshack.us/my.php?image=batterypl10c4rd.jpg) http://img312.imageshack.us/img312/9431/batterypl11c8de.th.jpg (http://img312.imageshack.us/my.php?image=batterypl11c8de.jpg)

The only crosswalk is still under construction. They offset the crosswalk at the center divide about 50 ft to move it away from the BBT portal exit.
http://img312.imageshack.us/img312/6417/batterypl12c7dg.th.jpg (http://img312.imageshack.us/my.php?image=batterypl12c7dg.jpg)

2. There is still one undeveloped lot, and one building under construction.

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/7966/batterypl13c6ry.th.jpg (http://img147.imageshack.us/my.php?image=batterypl13c6ry.jpg)

3. The City Art Commission, which controls designs on city property, rejected the original plans.
http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_148/artcommissionblocks.html

4. Pier A would have been a good destination point, but it is still shrouded in inactivity. Also, the work to reconfigure Battery Pl, which is part of this project, is ongoing.
http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/6233/batterypl14c0rv.th.jpg (http://img147.imageshack.us/my.php?image=batterypl14c0rv.jpg)

Overall, I think it turned out well. There is a wide buffer of two planted medians and a bike path to shield it from the roadway. They managed to save the mature trees that lined the street. I'm glad they resisted the impulse to put in some useless strip of lawn.
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/9816/batterypl16c6uc.th.jpg (http://img152.imageshack.us/my.php?image=batterypl16c6uc.jpg) http://img479.imageshack.us/img479/9316/batterypl17c6hf.th.jpg (http://img479.imageshack.us/my.php?image=batterypl17c6hf.jpg) http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/4908/batterypl18c8io.th.jpg (http://img152.imageshack.us/my.php?image=batterypl18c8io.jpg)

Hopefully, the building under construction and the one planned one block north will have some retail.
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/3068/batterypl15c7gp.th.jpg (http://img152.imageshack.us/my.php?image=batterypl15c7gp.jpg)

Another problem is that the promenade is isolated from the north. The next section from West Thames to Chambers is in design, and scheduled to be complete in 2009.

A related story that may assist increasing traffic along this stretch is the request by Brookfield to build out retail along West St at the WFC.

Talk about useless lawns. The only retail that ever developed here is the messenger service.
http://www.tribecatrib.com/

[ZippyTheChimp]

Present conditions

http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/8568/batterypl19c1li.th.jpg (http://img359.imageshack.us/my.php?image=batterypl19c1li.jpg) http://img479.imageshack.us/img479/2062/batterypl20c7um.th.jpg (http://img479.imageshack.us/my.php?image=batterypl20c7um.jpg)

[ablarc]

Most of the problems with the promenade are temporary...It isn't finished yet.
Shows great promise. Appears to have more than a little in common with Champs-Elysees' physical form, but needs lots of retail.

Last 2 pictures: grass is stupid.

[BPC]

Nice photos of the new promenade. Hard to understand how more benches will help the situation, when none of the ones in your photos are being sat in. As I said, when the two buildings open up along side, it should help a little, as will the reopening of Pier A, not that that will happen in our lifetime. But even when all those things happen, there will still be no reason to hang out there, when much nicer riverside parks are just a block away. Perhaps the skateboarders will adopt it, but short of that, this whole thing is rather pointless. Superior to the the parking lot that predated it, I suppose, but far inferior to the basketball and tennis courts the community wanted to put there.

I agree that the WFC lawn is a stupid, suburban design feature (similar to what was planned for the top of the proposed and now abandoned West Street tunnel). Replacing the lawn with a department store would be an excellent idea.

[ZippyTheChimp]

Hard to understand how more benches will help the situation, when none of the ones in your photos are being sat in. They weren't bolted down. A crew was laying them out.


there will still be no reason to hang out there, when much nicer riverside parks are just a block away. Even with the present limitations, and the fact that it was 3PM, there were people using it


Superior to the the parking lot that predated it, I suppose, but far inferior to the basketball and tennis courts the community wanted to put there. Those facilities are planned for the next segment.

A tennis court would not have fit, unless the bike path was removed.

[stache]

Is it worth going down there to look at this, or should I wait?

[ZippyTheChimp]

I would wait until the Battery Pl reconfiguration is complete - maybe a few weeks.

[lofter1]

Give it a couple of years -- once the trees grow a bit it will become a nice shaded area -- always welcome during the dog days of summer. Plus the trees shown get the most fantastically aromatic blossoms in June/ July :)

[BPC]

A tennis court would not have fit, unless the bike path was removed.

That's true only because the City created "Little West Street," which is absolutely pointless north of the Ritz.

[ZippyTheChimp]

That's true, but a singles tennis court is 50 ft wide. Add 8 ft for doubles. The distance from the edge of the bikeway to the curb is 45 ft. That puts the courts out into the street, close to the buildings. The people that wanted them never considered the dimensions.

[lofter1]

That's true only because the City created "Little West Street," which is absolutely pointless north of the Ritz.
Once the final sites are built out then LWS will become essentially a service road / garage entrance for the buildings along that stretch, as the main entrances to the buildings there are one block west.

[ZippyTheChimp]

I agree with BPC.

Little West St is only needed as a loop-around for taxis at the Ritz-Carlton.
Putting garage/service entrances along the street would be a mistake. A streetwall of retail should be developed here.

Service entrances should be on 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Pl, same as they are for the buildings to the west of Battery Pl.

On the other hand, some sort of street would be needed for deliveries to that retail.

[ablarc]

On the other hand, some sort of street would be needed for deliveries to that retail.
As part of its ideological adherence to functionalism, Modernism made the claim that a building needed a specified service area. This may be true of huge skyscrapers, but most smaller retail establishments in Manhattan are served directly across the sidewalk through the front door. This activity performed at off-hours is pretty unobtrusive, or if done during the day you get the vibrant and picturesque bustle of the Fairway on Broadway at 74th. If you design for crummy functions like service, you will get service areas, which are invariably...well, crummy.

[pianoman11686]

Would this be a good model?

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/07/16/travel/16helsinki_slide_lawn.jpg
The Esplanade in the heart of Helsinki, with idlers in the middle and fine shopping on either side.


Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

[ZippyTheChimp]

http://www.downtownexpress.com/

Art Commission snubs C.B.1 over West St.

By Janet Kwon

Community Board 1 says the city Art Commission is stonewalling them on why the art group rejected plans for parkland along the West Side Highway.

After months of silence from the commission, the board’s Battery Park City Committee has already sent two letters to the commission with no response. C.B. 1 wants to establish communication with the mum commission to discuss designs for sections of parkway along the southern stretch of Route 9A.

“We usually don’t respond to community board letters…we pass them onto the commissioner …and include in a project file,” said an Art Commission official who declined to give her name.

The state Department of Transportation worked in conjunction with the B.P.C. committee to create these designs, which proposed activity stations, rock and sculpture gardens and trees between First, Second and Third Pls.

In March of this year, however, the commission rejected these designs. In a private letter they sent to state D.O.T., the commission stated that these plans go against the broader surrounding décor of the area. Instead, the commission suggested that the D.O.T. work with various artists in planning for the park spaces.

“We don’t know what the Art Commission found objectionable with our previous plan. We don’t know what they’re thinking,” B.P.C. Committee chairperson Linda Belfer said at a July 11 meeting, where members voiced their frustration of the empty park spaces. Since the committee’s letters were met with silence, members brainstormed ideas to create conversation with the group of 11 mayoral appointees.

Committee member Barry Skolnick suggested contacting the mayor’s Community Assistance Unit with the issue, in hopes of getting through to the commission. The C.A.U.’s responsibility is to address community concerns. Skolnick stressed that this matter is exactly the kind of issue that the C.A.U. should tackle.

Others suggested contacting Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer to see if he could urge the Art Commission into cooperating — or just urging them to open the lines of communication with the B.P.C. Committee. Without communication with the commission, plans are at a standstill.

“If you leave it too long, nothing is going to happen with First, Second and Third Place,” said Belfer.

“When you walk down that stretch, it’s an empty and desolate space,” said Jeff Galloway, a committee member and a Battery Park City resident.

Fellow committee member Anthony Notaro chimed in, “It’s a very large and uninviting place. It’s a shame that nothing is done with it.”

“The money and the opportunity are still there — but the window of opportunity has passed… our schedule doesn’t allow to hire an artist and whatnot,” said Chris Cotter, an urban design director of the state D.O.T. who is working on the broader Route 9A renovation.

Silvia Alvarez, the Art Commission’s spokesperson, wrote in an email to Downtown Express that the commission’s meetings are open to the public where people are “welcome to attend and give testimony.” She implied the commission had no plans to respond directly to C.B. 1. She said that the agency’s agenda is posted on their Web site five to seven days in advance, which gives the public a chance to prepare comments to bring to their meetings.


Downtown Express is published by
Community Media LLC.

[ablarc]

^ Transparent government.

[lofter1]

I walked down the new promenade (it'll be better when they get around to finsishing the renovation at Pier A -- right now the "vista" ends in a construction fence) and around the nearly-completed building at Little West St. / First Place ...


Zippy:

There is still one undeveloped lot, and one building under construction.

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/7966/batterypl13c6ry.th.jpg (http://img147.imageshack.us/my.php?image=batterypl13c6ry.jpg)

Hopefully, the building under construction and the one planned one block north will have some retail.

http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/3068/batterypl15c7gp.th.jpg (http://img152.imageshack.us/my.php?image=batterypl15c7gp.jpg)



The west-facing facade of this new one ^^ is basically just a blank brick wall up a few floors. Any renderings for what will go up on that part of the block?

And any plans for the block for the empty site between Second Place / Third Place?

[lofter1]

Seems the full-block site between Second / Third Place is Site #3 ...

BPCA issued an RFP (http://www.batteryparkcity.org/pdf/BPCA_rfp_site_3.pdf) for site 3 in September 2004 ...

apparently the remaining portion of the Site 2 block is the proposed home for the Women's Museum. Although that seems to be a troubled project, as was recently reported in the Tribeca Trib (http://www.tribecatrib.com/):


"We have to have a long-range plan to build more schools in our neighborhood," ...

... a site in southern Battery Park City now reserved for a long-planned women's museum may provide space for a school.


***

[ablarc]

^ I find it amazing and a bit appalling that the building envelope is so specifically mandated by zoning. Then again, that's how Haussmann did it...and it turned out pretty well. Of course, the median was higher for both architectural design and construction quality.

If they're going to be such control freaks, why don't they mandate ground floor shops?

[katenyc]

On a side note.

That God-awful excessive construction has woken me up day in and day out at the crack of dawn, actually SHAKING my entire building, as well as sending rodents up to feed on any food we may have.

Ugh.

[BPC]

State shelves West St. play space idea

By Skye H. McFarlane

Old wounds reopened Tuesday night when the Battery Park City Committee met to hear plans for the future of the West St. parkland.

While the Hudson River Park Trust proposed bringing a Greenmarket to the space, it was clear that board members were still seeing red over interference by state and city agencies during Promenade South’s development — snags they claim have made the finished product unappealing and impractical for the community.

“Any way you look at it, it looks like some sort of Stalinist architecture,” said Jeff Galloway, co-chairperson of the committee. “There’s no human element.”

Promenade South, a wide granite walkway that stretches from W. Thames St. down to Battery Pl., sits atop a sliver of city-owned land between West St. and Battery Park City, which is managed by the state. The promenade officially opened in July, but finishing touches on the property won’t be completed until a few weeks from now, at which point the New York State Department of Transportation will turn the space over to the Trust, a state-city authority.

With the changeover in mind, the Trust’s Connie Fishman pitched the idea of bringing a weekly farmers’ market to the stony expanse.

“It’s a big wide place with not very much going on with it,” Fishman said of the walkway. “There’s room for a market…And everyone in Battery Park City complains that there’s no way to get to any sort of a decent grocery store.”

While the board greeted the Greenmarket concept with tepid enthusiasm, the subject sparked a spirited debate over the promenade’s lack of active recreation. Due to the swelling population and limited play space in Battery Park City, Community Board 1 has been pushing for exercise stations along the walkway and state D.O.T. officials were receptive to the idea. According to several attendees of Tuesday night’s meeting, this idea was privately discouraged by Governor George Pataki, who envisioned a “grand promenade” ushering thousands of pedestrian tourists from the World Trade Center site down to Battery Park.

A second development plan, which included functional artwork like sculptural seating areas and a climbable rock garden, was vetoed by the city’s Art Commission last March. Also using the phrase “grand promenade,” the Art Commission dismissed the recreational art on aesthetic grounds, leaving benches and stone planters as the promenade’s only design features.

“We were told it was going to be active recreation,” said local resident Helene Seeman. “Now, our children have nowhere to go.”

To try and remedy the situation, the committee resolved to pursue temporary installations and activity programming, such as movable mini-skateboard parks, small fountains, and game tables. As Galloway pointed out, temporary features would not have to be approved by the Art Commission. They could be changed to meet the community’s needs or removed if foot traffic on the walkway becomes too heavy after the World Trade Center site is rebuilt.

The committee resolved to consult the state Department of Transportation about the availability of funds and workers to complete the temporary projects. Fishman, who did not comment on the temporary project idea, was also given the go-ahead to pursue the Greenmarket possibility.

Construction of the northern half of the promenade, from W. Thames up to Chambers St., is scheduled to begin this spring and continue until 2009. Design plans for that half of the project have not yet been finalized, but will involve moving West St. slightly farther west, reconfiguring the park at Rector St. and renovating the playgrounds between West Thames and Albany Sts.

Skye@DowntownExpress.com

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_178/stateshelveswestst.html

[ablarc]

Community Board 1 has been pushing for exercise stations along the walkway
What is an exercise station?

[BPC]

It's like a Station of the Cross, only instead of 20 lashes from a Roman Centurion, you do 20 jumping jacks.

[pianoman11686]

According to several attendees of Tuesday night’s meeting, this idea was privately discouraged by Governor George Pataki, who envisioned a “grand promenade” ushering thousands of pedestrian tourists from the World Trade Center site down to Battery Park.

This is a prime example of why politicians shouldn't be involved in urban planning, or any kind of planning that doesn't involve government-related expenditures.

[ablarc]

It's like a Station of the Cross, only instead of 20 lashes from a Roman Centurion, you do 20 jumping jacks.
But how do you keep from feeling like a fool? Wait...there's a guy working on invisibility as we speak.

So, let's see...we promenade to the Battery between stations of people doing jumping jacks...

How do these stations look?



Maybe Pataki has a point.


Btw, is it legal to do jumping jacks on any old sidewalk if there's no designated "station"? If you stay out of people's way, that is.

.

[lofter1]

This evidences the huge discrepancy between what was wanted by the immediate community as part of their daily life (uses for recreation, green market, etc.) and what is wanted by those seeking a legacy (The Pataki Promenade -- oy -- it sounds like a F***ing fox-trot or some such nonsense).

Even if the idea was to create a large space to allow movement between the WTC site and Battery Park it would have been nice to consider that real people like to have a snack or drink or a little browse along the way -- but Pataki and his cronies will walk down this Promenade just for photos -- and never have to actual use it as a way to get from one place to another.

How soon is it that Pataki's reign comes to an end? Not soon enough ...

[antinimby]

^ Not fair. You obviously hate the guy.
Your opinion on this don't count. ;)

[antinimby]

What is an exercise station?Aren't these the human equivalent of highway rest stops?

[asg]

The DOT has begun staging construction equipment on the east side of West St between W Thames (Brooklyn Battery Tunnel entrance) and Battery Pl. Traffic and the bikeway will be shifted west while the Battery Park underpass portal is demolished. The parking lot in the middle of Battery Pl will be eliminated and the street moved south so the north sidewalk can be expanded.


When (and why) was the portal canopy eliminated from the project?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v651/asg9000/displayboard20_41404.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v651/asg9000/displayboard21_41404.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v651/asg9000/displayboard22_41404.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v651/asg9000/displayboard23_41404.jpg

[lofter1]

A) What's the PURPOSE of the canopy?

B) Me envisions youngsters climbing out over the top of it ...

[ablarc]

A) What's the PURPOSE of the canopy?

B) Me envisions youngsters climbing out over the top of it ...
Could it be to keep their older brothers from dropping cement blocks on the cars below?

[BPC]

It was all just a scam. Notice that all the greenery around the canopy has also disappeared. The only thing that the DOT actually followed through on are those two brand new u-turn lanes behind the fictitious canopy. Could it be because the only thing the DOT ultimately cares about is moving cars from point A to point B?

[ablarc]

Could it be because the only thing the DOT ultimately cares about is moving cars from point A to point B?
Well, they are the Department of Transportation; can't expect them to behave like the Parks Department --nice though it would be.

[ZippyTheChimp]

The U-turn lane is the best part of the design.

Previously, traffic wanting to turn around and go north on West St would cut across three crosswalks. Now, that traffic is completely isolated from pedestrians.

With the U-turn lane added, a patch of grass in the middle of the street would be useless.

[BPC]

Perhaps, but the U-Turn lane certainly did not need to be TWO lanes. I have never seen enough traffic to justify that. And if that were the true purpose of the redesign and the grass and canopy were useless, then the DOT should not have used them in their "conceptual drawings" to sell the u-turn lanes.

[ZippyTheChimp]

Perhaps, but the U-Turn lane certainly did not need to be TWO lanes.Trucks and buses.


And if that were the true purpose of the redesign and the grass and canopy were useless, then the DOT should not have used them in their "conceptual drawings"Sometimes an intersection/pedestrian crossing is just that - nothing more. Renderers get carried away, but no one ever expected the area behind the underpass portal to be public space. What would you do there?


to sell the u-turn lanes.I wasn't aware that anything had to be sold. Was your group opposed to this project? If so, why?

Besides the traffic safety improvements, elimination of the center parking lot allowed the sidewalks on both sides of Battery Place to be widened. There is now room for the Rt 9A bike route to be extended around Battery Park to the East Side.

[BPC]

Trucks and buses.

Sometimes an intersection/pedestrian crossing is just that - nothing more. Renderers get carried away, but no one ever expected the area behind the underpass portal to be public space. What would you do there?

I wasn't aware that anything had to be sold. Was your group opposed to this project? If so, why?

Besides the traffic safety improvements, elimination of the center parking lot allowed the sidewalks on both sides of Battery Place to be widened. There is now room for the Rt 9A bike route to be extended around Battery Park to the East Side.

We never took a position on the specifics of the "at grade" alternative for Route 9A, except to advocate (unsuccessfully) for six lanes instead of eight. Frankly, the renderings have shifted so frequently and so dramatically (particularly with regard to the promenade) so as to make it impossible to have a truly informed opinion.

Personally, however, I did like the clam shell. I agree with you that the grass behind the clam shell would have been pointless. I was just pointing out how it was used to sell the project. Traffic planners love to sell road expansions by protraying lots of extra (usually fake or useless) green space, a strategy they repeatedly tried with the proposed West Street tunnel itself.

As for the U-turn lanes, I believe they could have been made into a narrower single lane (even with buses), which would have allowed the sidewalk by Battery Park to be extended at least ten feet northward. The real problem with the Batter Park - BPC connection is that it forms a choke point at Pier A wherein cars and pedestrians gets thrown together. A little more pedestrian space along the park would have been a boon. The current configuration may spare pedestrians from having to deal with the u-turners, but they stilll have to deal with the through-traffic on Battery Place which, since the opening of the Ritz, has grown considerably.

I do think the DOT is doing a good job with the rest of Battery Place. Getting rid of that parking lot was a good idea.

[pianoman11686]

From a few days ago:

http://thumb14.webshots.net/t/55/155/4/18/84/2508418840099781014LBqHYJ_th.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2508418840099781014LBqHYJ)

That's the southern end of the promenade. On a warm December afternoon, when Battery Park was packed with tourists, this walkway was almost completely empty. Maybe it's all the construction still going on in the area. Or, maybe this thing has no appeal. I for one preferred to walk up Broadway.

[ZippyTheChimp]

Once the new IRT tunnel was cut through, the street project was completed.

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/4026/batterypl21c.th.jpg (http://img10.imageshack.us/my.php?image=batterypl21c.jpg)

So all this land was reclaimed with the elimination of the parking lot and one traffic lane. It'll probably take another decade to start up the park perimeter-bikeway project.

If it rained heavy the night before, all those people in the background would be standing ankle deep in a puddle.

[ablarc]

^ Are the storm sewers plugged up or are they just in the wrong place?

Anyone else think Zip might be civil engineer?

[ZippyTheChimp]

^ Are the storm sewers plugged up or are they just in the wrong place?The sidewalk is new curb, existing concrete and asphalt fill. It looks like something intended to last a few months that remains for years.


Anyone else think Zip might be civil engineer?Nope. Just a lifetime of wanting to know how things work.

Nine years old. Pop's new car had seatbelts. They were an option back then, and were self contained boxes that were bolted in. I opened the housing with a screwdriver, and a large, tightly wound flat spring popped out like a jack-in-the-box. I did my best to jam it back in, not realizing the implications. Hey, I was nine.

[BPC]

Nice graphic. While it is great that the park has expanded, there is no real need for all that extra sidewalk space. Is there any chance the Batter Park Conservancy will extend the green space out over where the sidewalk used to be, now that there is all that new (reclaimed) sidewalk?

[lofter1]

That entire northern edge of Battery Park will be re-worked when the new bike path and park re-construction takes place (going slow but recently funded, on the boards (http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_311/batterypark.html) and set for completion in 2011):


From the Downtown Express

Battery Park bike loop

Cyclists should finally have an easy way to navigate Lower Manhattan’s southern tip when Battery Park gets a new bike path in 2011 thanks to a $2.5 million federal transportation grant.

The grant, announced last week, provides the last piece of funding the Battery Conservancy needs for the $16 million project, which also includes landscaping and relocating monuments.

“We’re thrilled,” said Warrie Price, president of the conservancy. “We will finally be able to link west to east.”

The bike path will connect to the one that runs along the Hudson River through Battery Park City and will then cut through the northern edge of Battery Park, running on the outside of Peter Minuit Plaza and feeding into the path that goes along the East River. Today, cyclists making that trip frequently come into conflict with vehicles traveling out of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel or reaching the end of the F.D.R. Dr. The new path will provide a protected route with gardens on either side.

The conservancy first started planning for the bike path many years ago, but the Metropolitan Transportation Authority put that project on hold so they could build the tunnel to the new South Ferry station beneath the park. The conservancy lost some of their funding because of the delay, but the new federal funds, combined with money from the state Dept. of Transportation, the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. and others will now get the project moving forward.

“The bikeway is very much on the fast track,” Price said.

The bike path design is complete and Price expects to bid the project this year and start construction at the beginning of 2010. It will take a year to complete.

[ZippyTheChimp]

http://www.thebattery.org/rebuilding/masterplan.php

Click on the lower graphic to enlarge. A bikeway project is supposed to begin early next year. I heard that the $16 million is already allocated.

[BPC]

Thanks. A bikeway would be a huge improvement. I would also like to see (during my lifetime) Pier A renovated ad reopened, the Park Service security trailers banished, and the dowdy eastern side of the Park, replete with parking lots and dilapidated administrative buildings, torn down and redone from scratch. Battery Park has the potential to become one of the world's great parks, even with the fake watch vendors and carnie performers, if only the City, the NPS and the Conservancy could get their acts together. Only the last of the three has shown any ability to get things done, albeit very slowly.

[ablarc]

Hey BPC, I usually enjoy your comments; I wish there were more.

[nycla3]

Mind boggling to think what this area would have been like if Robert Moses bullied his way with a bridge to Brooklyn instead of the tunnel. Good thing FDR held a long-running personal grudge against the Master Builder and had the Army Engineers deep-six the idea in the early 40's on grounds it would impede potential wartime traffic to the Brooklyn Navy Yard (as if the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges didn't exist.)

First time Moses didn't get his way after ham-fisting his way into co-opting the Brooklyn-Battery Authority with his Triborough Bridge Authority.

Nevertheless...we're all better off in the end that the bridge never took root.

http://www.queensmuseum.org/qmail/2007_02/images/rmoses.jpg

[Alonzo-ny]

It would have been interesting to see, completely change the skyline. It would have been really bad for teh city on the ground in Manhattan though.

[nycla3]

In retaliation for not getting his way, he obliterated the beloved Aquarium that stood in Castle Clinton, a complete grudge job....better reading in Robert Caro's The Power Broker, but here from wiki:

In the late 1930s a municipal controversy raged over whether an additional vehicular link between Brooklyn and lower Manhattan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_Manhattan) would be a bridge or a tunnel. Bridges can be wider and cheaper but tall ones use more ramp space at landfall than tunnels. A "Brooklyn Battery Bridge" would have destroyed Battery Park (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_Park_%28New_York%29) and physically encroached on the financial district. The bridge was opposed by the Regional Plan Association, historical preservationists, Wall Street (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street) financial interests and property owners, various high society people, construction (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Construction) unions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_union) (since a tunnel would give them more work), the Manhattan borough president (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borough_president), Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiorello_LaGuardia), and governor Herbert H. Lehman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_H._Lehman).

However, Moses favored a bridge. It could carry more automobile traffic than a tunnel and would also serve as a visible monument. More traffic meant more tolls (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toll_bridge), and more tolls meant more money and therefore more power for public improvements. LaGuardia and Lehman, as usual, had no money to spend and the federal government, by this point, felt it had given New York enough. Moses, because of his control of Triborough, had money to spend, and he decided his money could only be spent on a bridge. He also clashed with chief engineer of the project, Ole Singstad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ole_Singstad), who also preferred a tunnel in place of a bridge.

Only a lack of a key Federal approval thwarted the bridge scheme. President Roosevelt ordered the War Department to assert that a bridge in that location, if bombed, would block the East River (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_River) access to the Brooklyn Navy Yard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn_Navy_Yard) upstream. A dubious claim for a river already crossed by bridges, it nevertheless stopped Moses. In retaliation for being prevented from building his bridge, Moses dismantled the New York Aquarium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Aquarium) that had been in Castle Clinton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Clinton) and moved it to Coney Island (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coney_Island) in Brooklyn where it grew, prospered and added to the attractiveness of this amusement area. He also attempted to raze Castle Clinton itself, on a variety of pretenses, and the historic fort's survival was assured only after ownership was transferred to the federal government.

Ending up, Moses was forced to settle for a tunnel connecting Brooklyn to Lower Manhattan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_Manhattan), now called the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn_Battery_Tunnel). A 1941 publication from the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority claimed that the government had forced them to build a tunnel at "twice the cost, twice the operating fees, twice the difficulty to engineer, and half the traffic," though actual engineering studies did not support this conclusion, and a tunnel actually may have held many of the advantages Moses publicly tried to attach to the bridge option.

Ultimately, this was not the first time that Moses tried to carry out the bridge option when a tunnel was already in progress. The same issue also occurred when the Queens-Midtown Tunnel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queens-Midtown_Tunnel) was being planned, in which he also clashed with Ole Singstad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ole_Singstad) and tried to upstage the Tunnel Authority. For the same reasons, Moses also preferred a crossing, but with no luck since the bridge was not supported by many officials.