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The Holland Tunnel - What can be done?


gpjn

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The Cross Bronx and BQE were routed where they were on purpose; it wasn't an accident.

That's true, but the Cross Bronx Expressway would eventually lead to severe urban decay, and severely damaged the reputation of the Bronx. The damages caused by the Cross Bronx is still heavily present.

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That's true, but the Cross Bronx Expressway would eventually lead to severe urban decay, and severely damaged the reputation of the Bronx. The damages caused by the Cross Bronx is still heavily present.

 

Moses knew exactly what he was doing. The exact same thing happened with the BQE being routed over the Third Av Elevated instead of being moved a block over into an industrial area; the routing of these roads, and other roads around the country that Moses designed, were built to go through vibrant, predominantly-minority areas.

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That's true, but the Cross Bronx Expressway would eventually lead to severe urban decay, and severely damaged the reputation of the Bronx. The damages caused by the Cross Bronx is still heavily present.

 

 

Moses knew exactly what he was doing. The exact same thing happened with the BQE being routed over the Third Av Elevated instead of being moved a block over into an industrial area; the routing of these roads, and other roads around the country that Moses designed, were built to go through vibrant, predominantly-minority areas.

Can we really blame this on the highways though, or was it a coincidence? The Bushwick Expressway wasn't built and look what happened anyway. The Cross Brooklyn Expressway wasn't built and we see how East NY, Brownsville and Flatbush are.

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Can we really blame this on the highways though, or was it a coincidence? The Bushwick Expressway wasn't built and look what happened anyway. The Cross Brooklyn Expressway wasn't built and we see how East NY, Brownsville and Flatbush are.

 

The city in general declined during that time, but look at what's happening to Bushwick, East NY, Brownsville, and Flatbush today; those neighborhoods are recovering without the Bushwick Expressway, but if anyone were to say the area around the Cross Bronx were gentrifying they'd get laughed out of the room.

 

The development of highways in general allowed people to leave the city for the suburbs just as the development of the subways allowed people to leave Manhattan fifty years before that. However, unlike the subway and el, the highways also prevented a good deal of regeneration, due to the much larger physical presence and greater air and noise pollution. (For example, it's a lot easier to cross a rail line than a highway.) People are okay with living next to a rail line that's already there, but less so for a six lane highway that's constantly busy.

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The city in general declined during that time, but look at what's happening to Bushwick, East NY, Brownsville, and Flatbush today; those neighborhoods are recovering without the Bushwick Expressway, but if anyone were to say the area around the Cross Bronx were gentrifying they'd get laughed out of the room.

 

The development of highways in general allowed people to leave the city for the suburbs just as the development of the subways allowed people to leave Manhattan fifty years before that. However, unlike the subway and el, the highways also prevented a good deal of regeneration, due to the much larger physical presence and greater air and noise pollution. (For example, it's a lot easier to cross a rail line than a highway.) People are okay with living next to a rail line that's already there, but less so for a six lane highway that's constantly busy.

 

The Cross Bronx Expressway is much further up though. One could argue that Williamsburg wasn't the best of neighborhoods either and now look what's happening, the BQE goes right through it and it's congested all day,  the same can be said about Ft Greene.  

 

This theory doesn't explain the lack of decay along many other highways in NYC. Grand Central Parkway, LIE, Clearview Expressway, Cross Island Parkway, etc

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The Cross Bronx Expressway is much further up though. One could argue that Williamsburg wasn't the best of neighborhoods either and now look what's happening, the BQE goes right through it and it's congested all day,  the same can be said about Ft Greene.  

 

This theory doesn't explain the lack of decay along many other highways in NYC. Grand Central Parkway, LIE, Clearview Expressway, Cross Island Parkway, etc

 

Those are all surrounded by parks except the LIE, and the area around the LIE is not particularly good (although it isn't particularly bad, either). The LIE was also an expansion of an existing road, as opposed to a blasting of a new right of way like the Cross Bronx. As for the BQE, the sections of Williamsburg that are getting the most heavily developed are those that are around the waterfront; there isn't much activity immediately around the BQE itself.

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