Future of the Gardiner Expressway - Nanos Research

Case StudiesAmeliorateEast River Esplanade, New York, NYBackgroundThe East River Esplanade is a planned3.2-kilometer-long (2-mile) series of publicspaces along the Lower Manhattan waterfrontand below F.D.R. Drive, an elevated highway.The F.D.R. was constructed in 1954. Thehighway extends over more than 125 cityblocks from Battery Park, north along the EastRiver to Harlem. In Lower Manhattan, it formsa barrier between downtown neighborhoodsand the waterfront. The Esplanade planningarea includes six waterfront districts, fromthe Financial District to the Lower East Side.The area is characterized by high-densitydevelopment – office towers to the south,“towers-in-the-park” housing development tothe north.This project is one among many public realmand redevelopment efforts sponsored sinceSeptember 11th by the Lower ManhattanDevelopment Corporation, Department ofCity Planning, and Economic DevelopmentCorporation. Population in Lower Manhattanhas doubled – from 23,000 to 56,000 –in just eight years. The Esplanade is forthat reason linked to Lower Manhattan’stransformation into a residential neighborhoodand efforts to attract investment.SHoP and Ken Smith Landscape Architects,the City’s consultants, developed a planfor new programs, upland connections, andopen spaces on historic slips and piers. Newprogram pavilions under the F.D.R. andsurface treatments to its structure providea transition from Lower Manhattan to thewaterfront.The project is funded by US $150 millionfrom the Lower Manhattan DevelopmentCorporation.Urban DesignThe F.D.R. poses development barriers at bothneighborhood and city scales. Within LowerManhattan, it reduces access to inter-modaltransportation – ferry and helicopter – andretail on East River piers. Improved access willmost directly benefit new area residents. AtRendering by SHoP of cladding, surfaces, plantings, and pavilions under F.D.R. Drive.44Future of the Gardiner Expressway