Big Money to Improve the BQE Ditch
Three plans were presented Monday by a team of architects and urban planners on what to do with the BQE “ditch” between Atlantic and Hamilton Avenues. The Brooklyn Paper reports that the cheapest plan, for $10 million, involves planting a massive greenway along the ditch and increasing pedestrian safety. With $20 to $45 million, six…
Three plans were presented Monday by a team of architects and urban planners on what to do with the BQE “ditch” between Atlantic and Hamilton Avenues. The Brooklyn Paper reports that the cheapest plan, for $10 million, involves planting a massive greenway along the ditch and increasing pedestrian safety. With $20 to $45 million, six bicycle and pedestrian bridges could be built over the BQE itself. And the most expensive plan, for $85 million, is the construction of a ‘Green Canopy’ which would generate energy from Atlantic to Hamilton Aves. Maintenance would cost about $477,00 a year, but the canopy would mostly pay for itself by generating $300,000 of energy. Councilman Brad Lander pointed out that funding would be the biggest challenge of moving forward, but “It’s not just a pipe dream. We can work to make it happen.
City Likes BQE Plans, But Balks at Price [Brooklyn Paper]
Photo by jglsongs
Oh hey – Tyburg is right about the feasibility of solar – it’s perfectly fine in NYC. The best use of solar is at the source. It doesn’t make sense to transmit the power over a long distance – the wiring is expensive and there are substantial transmission losses. So it would be best if there were something that could be immediately powered by the solar array. Maybe best just to feed it back into the grid, where it would be available on demand, but this would require a deal with Con Ed, and possibly a change in State law.
I don’t know, but I would imagine a sister arena and hi- rise apartment buildings might bring in a lot of taxes as well. No?
Q train runs right outside my window. Let’s cover that thing up. The noise pollution is horrendous.
Bite the bullet and do it right.
Two words: Big Dig.
Just wondering if the massive off shore wind farm in the works is the type of project we should be focusing our attention and $$ on. I’m all for “green” energy, but let’s do it in the most cost effective way.
nycdelisauce — You have to differentiate photovoltaic (solar cells) from other forms of solar power. You definitely need a place like the Arizona desert to make a mirror-type “Solar Farm” work, but photovoltaic cells produce electricity even on cloudy days…. obviously less. And every day the technology is becoming more and more a commodity type product.
One of the most solar-coated countries is Germany… and they are further north and have very similar weather to ours.
There’s definitely a cost-benefit analysis that has to take place… BUT given the capacity of our power generation, the cost of producing power with alternative sources (though pricier than oil and coal) is more attractive. What type of power plant are we going to build when NYC exceeds capacity of our current plants? Where are they going to be built?
Photovoltaic “Farms” are definitely a great possibility for this little town of ours.
architect66, sounds like you know a bit about solar. I’ve never understood the push for solar in a place like NYC. Too far north, a lot of cloudy days, and a decent amount of snowfall. Does a project like this make sense from a cost/benefit standpoint or is it just a feel-good thing?
$300k in electricity is about 1,500,000 kilowatt hours. Given NYC solar exposure and conditions, and assuming no shading, this would require the installation of a solar array of approximately 1800 kW. There is certainly enough real estate to do this – an 1800 kW array would take up only about 120,000 Square Feet.
With the Rebuilding of this portion of the BQE planned to start in 2018, it seems that the minimal approach is the smartest way to go at the moment. How do we know that work for the BQE re-alignment won’t undo or make obsolete the trench beautification? Also, if the Re-alignment ends up including a tunnel that bi-passes the trench, then the traffic in this area will go way down which will alleviate a lot of the noise and pollution issues. If the area still needs further work after the BQE is rebuilt, then it can be done at that time.