Huge Pelham Parkway project done incorrectly

I've been interested in this Pelham Parkway debacle for a while. Here is the latest from the Bronx...

Pelham Parkway project continues to be a disaster

From NBC:

A rule change to construction standards on city roadways has residents of one of Bronx community concerned that fire trucks won't be able to help them in an emergency.

The city Department of Transportation changed its rules regarding fire truck access around the same time construction began on a $40 million road project that included the narrowing of a Bronx street, the I-Team has learned.

Home video recorded by a neighbor shows an FDNY fire truck having difficulty turning onto Pelham Parkway South, one of the newly redesigned roads, during a joint FDNY and DOT test to determine if emergency vehicles could negotiate turns on and off of the street.

In 2009, the city Department of Design and Construction submitted a final design for the Pelham Parkway reconstruction project. In the summer of 2010, construction began on the new, narrower, Pelham Parkway South. That same summer, the DOT amended its Street Design Manual.

The manual originally read, “…all street designs must meet FDNY, other emergency vehicle, and sanitation vehicle access needs.”

But on July 9, 2010 the guidelines were changed to read, “…all street designs must consider FDNY, other emergency vehicle, and sanitation vehicle access needs.” The difference between "must meet" and "must consider" emergency vehicles means a lot to those who live and work on Pelham Parkway South.

You can read previous stories about this here. $40M of our tax money for this...

Pelham Parkway is narrowed instead of widened

Remember a couple of years ago when the city decided that Pelham Parkway needed to be widened for safety reasons, and a whole bunch of trees had to die so a guardrail could be installed? Well, things haven't exactly gone as planned...

Pelham Parkway trees are goners

From the Bronx Times-Reporter:

The legal battle to save more than 70 mature trees along Pelham Parkway seems to have come to an amicable solution.

The city and the Pelham Parkway Preservation Alliance reached a compromise on Friday, November 12 that guarantees that no more than 50 trees will be removed from Pelham Parkway during the two-year, $36 million reconstruction project. The Pelham Parkway Preservation Alliance, which had filed a suit to have the city agree to specific guarantees on how many trees they will remove during the project, and won a temporary injunction against the start of the project, have agreed to drop their lawsuit if the city sticks to the agreement.

As part of the settlement, no healthy, mature trees will be removed until a technical working group assesses each individual tree; the project’s construction by the Department of Design and Construction will employ measures designed by the Parks Department to protect all trees; all tree work will be performed or supervised by a certified arborist, and should include the installation of tree protection barriers during construction; and the city has reaffirmed its commitment to plant at least 246 new saplings. No more than 50 trees will be removed by DDC, and only diseased trees will be removed by Parks.

Wow, they'll only remove 50 trees instead of 70! And that's supposed to be something to celebrate...

Stay of execution for Pelham Pkwy trees

From the Village Voice:

Previously, we wrote about the city's plan to redo the Bronx's Pelham Parkway, including adding guardrails that would require killing at least 80 of the century-old trees lining the road. Last week, the trees -- represented by the Pelham Parkway Preservation Alliance and attorney William J. Madonna -- won a restraining order in Bronx County Supreme Court against the city.

The Alliance took their case to court, requesting that the city stop all construction, remove all construction vehicles, and not cut down any trees. They asked the city to have a third party perform and release environmental impact statements about the project. They also requested the city appoint a lead agency to administer the entire project, since there's been some apparent confusion on which agency, exactly, is ultimately responsible.

The temporary injunction prevents the project from moving forward as long as the case is pending. Only regular maintenance work is now permitted on the Parkway. The case will go to trial on November 5 to determine whether the city can proceed with the project as planned.

"It's a shame they have to go to court," former Parks Commissioner Henry Stern told us. "The city should protect its trees without adding...court."

Tree massacre coming to Pelham Parkway

From NY Civic:

Do you know about Pelham Parkway?

It is a magnificent park and boulevard, 2.3 miles long and 400 feet wide. It connects Bronx Park and Pelham Bay Park...There is nothing quite like it in the City of New York, in terms of greenery and grandeur enhancing a public thoroughfare.

Today it is threatened - by, of all entities, the City of New York, whose Department of Transportation is planning to improve the park's roadways, and remove 87 mature trees that give the parkway its character and beauty. The project is slated to begin this fall and conclude in 2012.

If this were proposed for Central Park, or anywhere in Manhattan, the roar of public outrage would be impossible to ignore. But this is the Bronx, where cries are more likely to be ignored by bureaucrats and by the media. Many Manhattanites don't even know where Pelham Parkway is, much less appreciate its unique appearance.

What is special about this Parkway is that as you drive in it, above you is an arbor of trees whose upper branches reach from one side of the road to the other. It looks, and you feel, as if you were traveling through a park.

In the Pelham Parkway case, we are told the road is not being widened. There is a plan to put a guard rail on the side of the road, to protect drivers who fall asleep, drive drunk, or don't know where the road is. The guard rail would also protect the trees, which are scuffed and gashed by the clumsy or irresponsible drivers.

It is not a physical necessity to remove the trees in order to install the guardrail. It is a convenience for the contractor. Also, a mature tree is not usually at death's door, about to fall on the roadway. Most have decades of life remaining. Their fate should not be determined by a death panel of highway engineers.

A city now engaged in planting a million trees, a most worthy crusade initiated by Mayor Bloomberg, should also place value on keeping the living trees that we have. If people at the highest levels were aware of the damage this project as currently designed would do, they would order the necessary changes so that we could improve the highway, build the guard rail and save the trees.

Part of the problem is awakening the environmental and botanical communities to the arborcide that would occur if current plans are carried out. Although the trees in this case are miles from Manhattan, they deserve equal protection. In order to save them, the Department of Transportation and its construction agency, the Department of Design and Construction, must be made to understand the value of existing mature trees. Many of these trees were planted in the 1930s. It would take until 2090 for the replacements to grow to match what we have today.

It's okay, Janette's making up for the environmental atrocity by putting in bike lanes all over the city! What do you think about this debacle, Reeg?