Off-Ramp NYC

For Cities without Highways

[Off-Ramp NYC @OffRampNYC]

1/ On Monday, @NYCMayor @NYC_DOT announced a $4 billion, decade-long plan to rehabilitate the just 1.5 mile stretch of BQE Central.

Here's why that would be a huge mistake:

[Off-Ramp NYC @OffRampNYC]

@jmp_nyc @J11226 @DannyInTransit OR what was more arguably needed was less highway north of 59th rather than more south of 72nd. We had just proven, yet again, that traffic is a gas, not a liquid, and then we proceeded to ignore our own data.

[Henry Beebe-Center @dingyhoogle]

Mamdani seems to suggest that the city would have been better off if Moses hadn't built the BQE. So why repair it for another 40 years?

Let's not kick the can down the road to 2080. Now is the time to find a path forward from this inhumane piece of infrastructure.

[Off-Ramp NYC @OffRampNYC]

@jmp_nyc @J11226 @DannyInTransit Sure. But again, this assumes that NYC wanted/needed a highway there. We had just proved otherwise up to 59th st. The topology of it is a separate choice.

[Off-Ramp NYC @OffRampNYC]

@politicalmath Both a depressing snarl of highway ramps. 👎👎

[Off-Ramp NYC @OffRampNYC]

@jmp_nyc @J11226 @DannyInTransit And when you say “they had to build”…what do you mean? They made a choice. We don’t have to make the same one.

[Off-Ramp NYC @OffRampNYC]

@jmp_nyc @J11226 @DannyInTransit Ask any San Franciscan if they want their highway back.

[Off-Ramp NYC @OffRampNYC]

@ammorano @nick_benson This federal administration will be gone in 2 years, before a shovel is in the ground. The next admin is likely to be much more receptive. This is a paperwork issue and it should be solved as such rather than as a new permanent piece of highway.

[Alex Morano @ammorano]

@nick_benson You're talking about at least a 14 year plan end to end. Surely you can find time in that window to look into closing some exits.

[Martin @MartinScopes]

@nick_benson Hey Nick,
Stuff like this is exactly what I'm talking about. We can spend $4 billion on a mile of highway but we can't fix up a path along the river.

https://t.co/d8bi6fRbZM

[Martin @MartinScopes]

It's actually crazy how many of the intractable problems in this city aren't solvable because of cars. They really are the root cause to a lot of dense city problems!

https://t.co/d8bi6fRbZM

[Jason Haber @jasonhaber]

NYC and Robert Moses in a nutshell:
NYC needed A Robert Moses. Instead, it got The Robert Moses.
And that made all the difference…

[Off-Ramp NYC @OffRampNYC]

@nick_benson @StreetsblogNYC The bigger issue is inertia around the highways. When will we stop letting these 20th century hulks get in the way of solutions we need today?

[Danny Pearlstein @DannyInTransit]

“It’s amazing that 15 years later we’re still talking about deterioration of the East River Esplanade in this very location,” said @HunterArmstr0ng, co-chair of @greenways4NYC.

“It’s incredibly frustrating how little progress has taken place and it feels like the same issues.”

[Wealthy New Yorkers Who Take The Bus @bri_guy_ny]

Really good and thoughtful analysis here.

Nine out of ten vehicles on the BQE are not trucks.

https://t.co/MKZAXysQ2S

[Danny Pearlstein @DannyInTransit]

Ppl cheering the BQE as the savior of local streets from trucks should (1) go outside & see the trucks all over local streets today and (2) live their values and support policies to cut truck traffic on local streets from rail freight to "blue highways" to, yes, CARGO BIKES 😊

[Off-Ramp NYC @OffRampNYC]

@nick_benson @StreetsblogNYC Also, there’s no such thing as being out of options! There’s always a way. Just need to get creative. 😊

[Danny Pearlstein @DannyInTransit]

'Time and time again, when urban highways are removed, car volumes drop and cities find other ways to move freight."

The real magical thinking is that the hated BQE is essential to the future of Brooklyn, when it's barely as old as the Boomers

[Danny Pearlstein @DannyInTransit]

@rmusimg It's one road. There are others. Please stop squandering billions to prop it up, money that could be spent on world class transit.

[Off-Ramp NYC @OffRampNYC]

How is it possible to have a long term vision for decommissioning the BQE if you keep Central going for another 40 years? In the 2030s you’ll have to rebuild the Gowanus Expy (at huge cost), and other deteriorating sections.

A vision can’t be just a couple of 300-ft caps. We need a managed retreat from cars and trucks.

[Off-Ramp NYC @OffRampNYC]

@jmp_nyc @J11226 @DannyInTransit But how does this explain the success of the Embarcadero and the West Side Highway? Both collapsed, they were not planned over decades. They’re both infinitely better now, and getting more so. Why not use the same principal here, but take it down intentionally?