Comments on: Mr. Gee, Tear Down This Highway

By: Douglas A. Willinger

Douglas A. Willinger — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:01:50 +0000

The northbound connection needs improvement; in its existing form it discourages use of the northbound Sheridan, as much of that traffic is to the northbound Bronx River Parkway.

http://cos-mobile.blogspot.com/2010/01/northbound-sheridan-pinch.html

By: Jay

Jay — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:32:25 +0000

The main point I would make was already said by jmc: the Sheridan has a lot of potential value as a transitway.

I would also simply express my disappointment with Tri-State’s continual use of the misleading “rush hour” photograph. It does not remotely represent rush hour conditions on the Sheridan Expressway. Please visit this page for a view of actual congestion (yes, it does actually hapen):

http://urbanresidue.com/Sheridan/

(Tri-State appears to have taken the photograph earlier than the actual peak time at this location, and they selected a location where the majority of the off-peak traffic uses a local, signal-controlled approach. They simply hopped on while the signal light was holding the traffic. You could do a similar stunt on Fifth Avenue in Midtown to make it look like there wasn’t any traffic, and it would be just as misleading there.)

There are some good arguments in favor of removing the expressway, but there are a lot of serious obstacles and it is not at all clear the impacts to the community wouldn’t actually be worse with the expressway gone.

This issue deserve more serious discussion, and less misleading propaganda photo ops.

By: jmc

jmc — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:34:04 +0000

The sheridan is very useful as a busway to get express buses from the eastern bronx into manhattan in a reasonable amount of time. any replacement of the sheridan could use a busway. unfortunately one of the problems with the frontage of the sheridan is that it’s mostly surrounded by warehouses, and it’s bordered by the cross bronx and the bruckner on both sides.

By: Adam

Adam — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 22:57:29 +0000

I say keep like 50 feet of that and put a subway on it. Then destroy the rest and turn it into parks and stuff.

By: JSD

JSD — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 00:00:23 +0000

“who could be against this?”

Sadly: The NY Post. Albany Senators. City Councilmembers. Drivers that never use the Sheridan, but will exploit the tear down as some sort of far left elitist boondoggle. Any number of early morning news anchors. In essence, the same people that opposed the Times Square pedestrian project.

By: StreetsPariah

StreetsPariah — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:48:47 +0000

I think the fact that Northbound drivers need to exit to the street when trying to go North on I-95 is a good enough reason to tear the entire thing down, if you ask me. What a pain. Add in parks to the mix, and who could be against this?

By: JSD

JSD — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:31:03 +0000

Parks can be good places. Parks can be bad places. A park full of kids in the day time, from the hours of 3:30-5:30 can easily turn into an extremely seedy and undesirable place at other hours.

A park should make sense in the context of what surrounds it. Not exist to simply exist.

I am not acquainted enough with the area to make a judgment on what sort of park could possibly be there. But Moses dropped random parks in random areas just as haphazardly as he dropped his highways. Parks for their own sake are not always a good thing.

By: Charles Siegel

Charles Siegel — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:26:58 +0000

It is right next to the Bronx River, and the riverfront could be restored if the freeway were removed. That would make a better park than keeping the freeway structure – and removing the freeway would also free up some land to develop as housing.

By: vnm

vnm — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:06:26 +0000

It wouldn’t really be elevated, anyway, since the Sheridan is mostly at-grade.

At-grade High Line, parks for kids to play in, affordable housing. All of these things sound infinitely better than an underused and unfinished Robert Moses mistake.

By: Mark Walker

Mark Walker — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:03:33 +0000

OK Brian, you’ve convinced me!

By: Dave Reid

Dave Reid — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:56:46 +0000

It’s great to see people all across the country fighting to tear down, blighting, unneeded urban freeways.

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:46:40 +0000

Another Highline?? What?? Look the Highline is great and all for Chelsea but we’re talking about the SOUTH BRONX. Chelsea is a relatively wealthy, albeit somewhat diverse neighborhood in Manhattan and the Highline railroad is historic. The Sheridan expressway is an eyesore no matter how you look at it. The South Bronx needs parks for kids to play in, and housing, and mixed use development to improve the community as a whole. They don’t need a place for wealthy people to go for a stroll in the summer!

By: ms nomer

ms nomer — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:15:52 +0000

South Bronx is way ahead of you on that one:

http://www.southbronxvision.org/

By: Mark Walker

Mark Walker — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:11:10 +0000

I’m totally for closing obsolete highways, especially the Robert Moses atrocities — but I wonder if area residents wouldn’t benefit more from turning this into an elevated park like the High Line?