BATTERY PARK CITY

Agreement Reached on BPC Bridge

 

Just one week after assailing Battery Park City Authority officials and their traffic consultant, Sam Schwartz, over a plan for a temporary pedestrian bridge across West Street, Battery Park City residents applauded when those same officials unveiled a revised bridge plan at a Dec. 12 Community Board 1 meeting.

Under the new plan, the 260-foot-long bridge will cross at a slight angle from midblock between Rector and Carlisle streets on the east side of West Street, to just north of Rector Place and an adjacent public lawn in Battery Park City. In the original plan, presented at a Dec. 5 meeting, the bridge would have crossed over the middle of the lawn and residents had angrily complained that their children would lose the only open play area in the neighborhood.

Board members and residents supported the new plan and praised the Authority’s effort to address community concerns.

"This seems to preserve what we need to preserve," said downtown resident Robert Gehorsam.

"Thank you very much for taking a look at the alternatives," said Helene Seeman, who had rallied community opposition against the initial bridge design.

The new design is also less likely to bring heavy pedestrian traffic to Rector Place, as residents had feared.

A ramp will provide access to the west side of the bridge while the east side will have stairs and a small elevator. The bridge will eliminate a small patch of a community garden in Battery Park City, but Stephanie Gelb, the Authority’s director of design, said that alternative gardening space can probably be found if needed.
The bridge, which the Authority says will be up for two to three years, will replace pedestrian bridges at Liberty and Vesey streets that were destroyed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. It’s intended to provide residents and World Financial Center workers with a safe crossing over West Street and easy access to and from eight subway lines on Rector and Wall streets.

Gelb said that 15,000 people are expected to be working at the World Financial Center by the end of January. The bridge will be able to handle the anticipated rush hour flow of approximately 4,000 people an hour,

The Authority expects to construct the bridge within two months, after receiving a required city permit. New York State will pay the estimated $1.5 million construction costs, using money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

While relieved that the lawn’s airspace will remain clear, Seeman and other residents said they would prefer that the bridge be built at Albany or West Thames Street and questioned whether the Authority fully explored those options. The Authority and its


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consultants said that constructing the bridge at either of those locations isn’t feasible, but that the new plan addressed the residents’ primary complaints.
CB1 member and Battery Park City resident Anthony Notaro agreed. "This is a beautiful example of community participation," he said.