Daniel Lutsker
Bridge
The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge as seen
from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
Responding to community
activists’ requests for a shared bicycle and pedestrian path, city
transportation officials showed Brooklyn Community Board 10 three options for a
path: one on the upper level, one on the lower level, and an entirely new
bridge near the Verrazano solely for bikers and walkers. The Harbor Ring
Campaign has collected over 1000 signatures on a petition
calling for paths across the bridge. Engineering Bernard Kalus said his company,
whose firm the Metropolitan Transit Authority contracted to draft the three
options, said his company aims to yield a crossing that would minimally disrupt
traffic flow or local neighborhoods, or damage the natural environment. He and community
members said they are aware that the plans could pose such security and safety risks
as easier access to the structure and nearby military bases for potential terrorists.
Also, officials at Fort Wadsworth, Fort Hamilton, which are federal facilities,
and New York City-owned John Paul Jones Park would have to grant permission to
build the path. The path, if created, would cost between $300 million and $400
million, said Kalus, of WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff.
The path “is a sorely
needed transport connection,” said Staten Island resident and cyclist Boris Suchkov,
“and it would bring new recreational opportunities and create new commuting
options.”
If paths were made
on the lower level, said Kalus, they would be on the outer sides of the bridge.
According to the proposal, the side facing Coney Island would have a walking
path and the side facing Manhattan would have a bike lane. The Metropolitan
Transit Authority aims to replace the concrete lower roadway with a lighter and
stronger steel deck, topped with asphalt. That would maximize space and make
the additional lanes possible, Kalus said.
Bikers coming from
Brooklyn would be able to reach the bridge on a 150-foot-high ramp wrapping
around John Paul Jones Park while bikers heading out from Staten Island would
be able to ascend a 60-foot-tall ramp over New York Avenue. For pedestrians, a
spiral staircase in the Belt Parkway Promenade would provide access to the path.
John Paul Jones Park in Bay Ridge
would have a viaduct over it
Alternatively, the
passageway could be built on the upper level of the bridge, said Kalus. That
would place the trail 25 feet higher and would require longer ramps. Workers
would have to install cameras to monitor activities, as the cables would be
more accessible to potential terrorists.
“My concern,” one
man said of those first two proposals, “is that it goes right over the military
base.”
Stronger winds at
that height might also endanger people crossing the bridge, Kalus admitted.
“When I drive my
little Corvette up there,” one woman said, “the wind pushes me all over the
place.”
A third option
would be to create another bridge near, but separate from, the Verrazano Bridge
itself. This plan would cost about as
much as the other two options, Kalus explained. The crossing would be a
lift-span bridge, allowing boats to pass. The path would not be as steep, wind
speeds and security would not be major concerns, and permission from park and
fort authorities might be easier to get.
“I think,” one man
said of the third proposal, “it’s ridiculous.”
Image from WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff’s Verrazano-Narrows Bridge Master
Plan presentation
The only other
bridge in the world to have added paths is London, England’s Millennium Bridge,
Kalus said. The Verrazano is almost 30 times longer than the Millennium, which
means paths will take more time and materials to build.
Charles F. Otey of
Brooklyn said he remembers when the bridge was built. He thought it would have
a walkway, and was disappointed when it didn’t. A few decades ago, he created
the Verrazano Lifeway Committee, which called for a path across the bridge.
According to Otey, 10,000 people signed a petition for the Lifeway, and Former
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, and New York State Sen. Marty
Golden supported the proposal.
“If you wanted to bike, walk, go in a
wheelchair, or crawl across the bridge, you could do so,” Otey said of the
proposal. “Before 9/11, everyone was for it.”
Members of Brooklyn Community Board
10, which serves Bay Ridge, Fort Hamilton, and Dyker Heights, listened to the
master plan, which included a feasibility study on a potential Verrazano Bridge
path.
If it happens at
all, actual construction of the path be as many as 15 years into the future, said
officials from the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority. The group must study
the architectural feasibility of the path and conduct public hearings where
residents get to air their input. No later than winter 2015, the Metropolitan
Transit Authority aims to conduct focus groups with and online surveys of city
residents, and get feedback from potential investors about the proposed
options.
Community
residents have mixed feelings about the proposals, but Josephine Beckmann, of
Brooklyn, thinks there should be a path.
“I have friends
who run in the New York City marathon every year,” said Beckmann. “They all say
crossing the bridge is the hardest part, but the view is fantastic.”
