Future of the Gardiner Expressway - Nanos Research

totalling US $200 million of added value.The boulevard proposal EIS questionedwhether Manhattan even needed a limitedaccessarterial. The transportation studyanalyzed nearly all of Manhattan andconcluded that the West Side Highway actedmore as a collector-distributor road. Replacingthe highway with an at-grade boulevard,therefore, wouldn’t be a loss for most drivers.(Whereas the West Side Highway carried140,000 vehicles per day in the 1970s, todayit carries 95,000).The Department of City Planning authoredthe new boulevard plan. Design objectivesincluded creating a new multi-modal routeand pedestrian waterfront connections as wellas streetscape improvements. To this firstend, the design incorporates a segment of theManhattan Greenway bicycle and pedestrianpath. The plan also limits auto access andturning locations, and provides a raisedmedian in order to increase pedestrian safety.Landscape plays a significant role theboulevard’s overall visual quality. Barrier curbsand the median are designed to be 0.6- to0.85-meters-tall. These high curbs offer deepplanting beds, allowing for a variety of trees,shrubs, and flowers. The diverse plantingpalette gives the West Side Highway a parkwaycharacter.The West Side Highway is also integrated, interms of design, with surrounding planninginitiatives. Pedestrian crossing locations,for example, are coordinated with plannedentrances to Hudson River Park. Surfacematerials, paving, and exterior furnishingswere also aligned with design standardsfor Hudson River Park and the ManhattanGreenway.ProcessThe Westway was ultimately stalled in courton environmental grounds. The court uphelda lawsuit contending that the project EIS didnot properly consider impacts on striped bass.These migratory fish make habitat in the pilesof abandoned piers along the Hudson.The scale and ambition of both the Westwayand West Side Highway Reconstruction Projectwere surely enabled by the funding source.Because most funds were federal, the projectswere more politically palatable to local leadersand residents.The Manhattan Waterfront Greenway parallelsthe West Side Highway.LESSONS of the west side highway / westway• The West Side Highway Reconstruction Project did not leverageas much development as is likely to occur in Toronto. Instead, itprovided amenity access that encouraged substantial economicgrowth in upland neighborhoods.• The details of roadbed design provided the opportunity for a richerlandscape. The West Side Highway’s parkway character makesthe boulevard an appealing urban amenity and refers to the City’slegacy of constructing parkways.West Side Highway Section – After (Existing)SECTION V: Case studies 25