More Renderings of the BQE's Hopeful Future
[nggallery id=”51052″ template=galleryview] Yesterday we talked about the possible plans for making the BQE trench a little friendlier to its surrounding neighborhoods. Later in the day Curbed managed to nab some fresh renderings of those possibilities from the EDC. The first two are of the proposed ‘Green Canopy,’ which comes with a price tag of…
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Yesterday we talked about the possible plans for making the BQE trench a little friendlier to its surrounding neighborhoods. Later in the day Curbed managed to nab some fresh renderings of those possibilities from the EDC. The first two are of the proposed ‘Green Canopy,’ which comes with a price tag of $85 million. The third is of the pedestrian bridges, the fourth the massive greenway. The only problem? None of them have a source of funding. At least we’ve got the pictures to fantasize about.
Three Ways to Make the BQE Less Horrible [Curbed]
t6, (or anyone) is it possible for a homeowner to put power back to the grid on a solar installation today?
And of course ML is right, need a rather massive vent system to make this work. Which would require motors, fans, and various other noisy bits to make happen.
Oh pshaw fsrq – you can’t really tell anything from the renderings. They are only cursory studies meant to illustrate a concept. But I agree – there is no way that anything resembling these would actually get built. There are a huge number of concerns that would need to be addressed – probably first among them would be driving safety given the shadowing on the highway from that lattice. Then you would have maintenance of plant materials and solar panels (safe access would need to be provided, probably from the top of the structure.) The solar layout is not really efficient – it makes more sense to pack the solar panels together, etc, etc, etc.
Still, all of these items can be addressed through design. None is a “fatal flaw.” As infrastructure goes, this project is no “big dig” – you would need to do this project about 1500 times to reach the scale of the big dig. D-O-A-B-L-E
tybur6 – I believe the renderings are showing a “green canopy” – which I take to mean that they want to plant stuff or have stuff grow on the lattice work (vines etc)…thats why the structure is drawn green(ish) and it would also support the solar arrays.
I think plants over a highway is a non-starter
Seems like a no brainer to cover up this stretch of the BQE with something considering it is already underground.
fsrq — I agree with a lot of what you say (surprisingly), but what is the last bit? Where are there plants hanging over the highway? There are plantings on the surface streets… and the solar panel renderings are steel canopies with PV panels attached.
First of all stop all this…if this was in Europe talk – it is a total generalization, 1. some countries might fund something like this and others likely wouldnt. 2. Lets not forget that that quite a few countries in Europe are now broke 3. A couple of drawings doesnt mean that such a project is actually a wise investment, not withstanding if some European countries might do it. and #4 in Europe they tax fuel like 10x higher than here – which makes for alot more $ for road projects (and also means alot fewer people use the road.) – which btw I am in favor of here but it aint gona happen.
Also it seems like alot of people have forgotton what a boondoggle the Big Dig turned out to be and;
Last let me say there is no way the NHTSA or the State DOT is going to let anyone hang plants over a major interstate highway…no way in hell.
Architect66 — I’m a lowly campus committee member. And my campus was not one that was chosen for solar locations (based on exposure, age/construction of roofs, etc.) I’m basically just relaying some of the information presented at a recent university-level “Sustainable CUNY” meeting. I’m more involved with the academic and non-emissions aspects of sustainability.
Probably the better place to look is here:
http://www.cuny.edu/about/resources/sustainability.html
And the NYPA website… The 100MW Solar Initiative
http://www.nypa.gov/solar/100mw/default.htm
Here’s the thing about the Solar Map. I was wrong, it wasn’t with NYPA, but actually the City gov’t using the research center at Hunter College. Airplanes and LASERS!!
http://www.cuny.edu/about/resources/sustainability/solar-america/map.html
Hey Tybur6 – we may have something to talk about at some point – please drop me a line at architectsuper66 at gmail
Tybur6 – that’s really cool. I’ve done a good bit of solar work in the city, and can tell you that in my experience, Con Ed’s people on the ground have always been receptive to the idea of distributed solar, and can see the benefits, but have been cautious about implementation because of legal and policy discussions that go on at a higher level.
This kind of infrastructure development is certainly possible in New York, where we are currently building two major extensions of the subway and a new terminal for the Long Island Rail Road under Grand Central. There is also a certain project involving the roofing over of a rail yard to provide the “public” benefit of an arena and some parking lots and maybe some housing in a decade or two, which everyone knows is a done deal.
$85 Million is a relatively modest sum for an infrastructure project – consider that the estimated cost of the new Kosciuszko is said to be $1 billion. By the way, there is a precedent for a solar canopy in Brooklyn at the Stillwell Terminal in Coney Island. It is not a new thing to provide such a structure over a major transportation facility that must remain in service 24/7. This one is just waiting for us to do.