Plan for Parks Involves Capping BQE Trench
Those pretty renderings above show how a large swath of South Williamsburg might look if a proposal moves forward to cap the BQE trench running between South 3rd and 5th streets and create a park network that would serve local kids, according to a story in Architect’s Newspaper. The plan is the five-years-in-the-making brainchild of…
Those pretty renderings above show how a large swath of South Williamsburg might look if a proposal moves forward to cap the BQE trench running between South 3rd and 5th streets and create a park network that would serve local kids, according to a story in Architect’s Newspaper. The plan is the five-years-in-the-making brainchild of Councilwoman Diana Reyna; local firm dlandstudio is responsible for the design. More details: “This month, the firm will begin preparing cost-benefit and health analyses while creating a design model for public presentation. Existing park spaces flank the BQE from Broadway to Borinquen Place, and the plan’s conceptual drawings show these spaces united by a tree-lined lawn, a baseball diamond, and a soccer field. By enclosing the expressway between South 3rd and 5th streets, the team hopes to significantly reduce traffic pollution and noise, which is ten times that of Park Avenue.”
Park Panacea over BQE Trench [Architect’s Newspaper]
Renderings by dlandstudio via Architect’s Newspaper.
and they get a lot more use know with Field turf than impossible to maintain grass.
This is not my nabe, but I have to respond to those saying that parks near BQE don’t get much use because my kids have played an awful lot of baseball games on both DiMattina and VanVorhees Fields. They aren’t the most idyllic settings for baseball, but they sure are well-used and important recreational facilities. They both have playgrounds nearby and they also seem well-used, at least on the summer evenings when I’m at a baseball field.
(DiMattina is on Rapayle & Hicks–the field seems practically surrounded by cars with the BQE on one side and an entrance ramp on the other. VanVorhees is on Columbia just South of Atlantic, right by the BQE entrance.)
I also want to add that this rendering gives East Williamsburg a Big Sky Country vibe that, um, doesn’t really exist.
I would also call it a long shot. However, the basketball courts and handball courts on the East side of the BQE do get a lot of use. the little grass patches on the west side, not so much.
It’s a wonderful idea, and if we ever get back around to investing properly in civic projects, this should be done with every open-cut highway in a residential neighborhood. That said, it seems a little odd even to call this a “plan.”
«why [propose something that won’t happen] here and not [propose something that won’t happen for]the trench between carroll gardens and red hook?»
“why do it here and not the trench between carroll gardens and red hook?”
There have been a number of plans for that area passed around over the last 6 months.
Wait, where are the jet packs? Obviously this is not a realistic rendering.
Considering current financial status of the City and State I think this will be a long time coming, if ever.
n.e.v.e.r.g.o.i.n.g.t.o.h.a.p.p.e.n.