Could the Gowanus Expressway Become a Greenway?
Here’s one for the awesome-ideas-that’ll-probably-never-happen file: The American Institute of Architects has drafted a design for replacing the Gowanus Expressway with a greenway on 3rd Avenue and putting a cable-suspension roadway on 1st Avenue, according to an article in yesterday’s Daily News. “The Gowanus Expressway is an aesthetic blight to the communities it straddles,” said…
Here’s one for the awesome-ideas-that’ll-probably-never-happen file: The American Institute of Architects has drafted a design for replacing the Gowanus Expressway with a greenway on 3rd Avenue and putting a cable-suspension roadway on 1st Avenue, according to an article in yesterday’s Daily News. “The Gowanus Expressway is an aesthetic blight to the communities it straddles,” said architect Glen Cutrona, who spearheaded the design project. “When it was constructed, it fractured the community. And while we’re aware that Third Ave. needs to be a vehicular corridor, it also lends itself to greening.” A plan to replace the expressway with a tunnel has been studied for more than 20 years but has so far come to nothing.
Make Gowanus Go Away [NY Daily News]
Expressway photo by gkjarvis; rendering from the Daily News.
why would you tear down an old overhead expressway and build another (albeit a nicer one) one closer to the water. It is still a 6 lane highway over your head, I don’t care how pretty it is.
This is the all time dumbest idea; combined with a fairly good idea.
A waterfront cable-stay bridge may actually be an attractive, reasonable and fiscally viable alternative to the insanely expensive alternatives of tunnels or a full rebuild of the existing structure BUT
If you replace the Gowanus expressway why on EARTH would you want to preserve a horribly ugly and divisive elevated roadway? If you could actually replace the Gowanus for automobile yse, the only intelligent response would be to tear down the existing eyesore.
I love this design. Once again it’s Brownstoner hating all change and everything modern and unique.
The flying cars will come first, then the flying pigs, then the corrected Gowanus Expressway.
A HighLine like the one in Paris would be wonderful. Parks on top, commercial/residential on the bottom. No more shadows and a lot of tax dollars for city to help move the traffic closer to the water. This way no need to spend the money to tear it down and the city gets more housing/amenities.
I don’t see any flying pigs in the drawing.
Where are the flying pigs?
You could leave some of the expressway there and have some sort of a gowanus highline. Where’s david bowie?
Rick Ashley approves of this.
We need the Cloverfield Monster to help erradicate the old and bring in this Gowanus Dream.