Gowanus tunnel?

In The Power Broker, Robert Caro describes the Gowanus Expressway as one of Robert Moses’ first of many terrible highway projects. He ran the highway right down the center of Sunset Park, completely covering the then-vibrant Third Avenue despite the neighborhood’s pleas to run it closer to the waterfront. The Gowanus needs to be replaced, and since the mid-90s activists have been pushing an alternative to simply rebuilding the highway: a tunnel.

A tunnel would be more expensive, of course, and the DOT was unwilling to consider the plan until Transportation Alternatives and neighborhood groups filed a lawsuit in 1998. They won the suit, and state and federal money to perform a thorough study of tunnel alternatives.

Lobbying for the tunnel has continued, but the public heard nothing more of it until the Post reported on Friday that DOT officials have approved the tunnel plan. It’s not entirely clear from the article how strongly (or whether) they are recommending it over other alternatives, but this is a major step in any case.

Comments on Gothamist’s writeup are mixed. Is it worth the money? Will improving the highway just encourage more driving? We know that widening highways adds to sprawl and traffic, but what about tunneling them? Is Boston’s Big Dig a good idea or not?

When I first attended a TA meeting where they were discussing the tunnel plan and lobbying, my first question was whether we could just tear down and not rebuild the highway. But the fact is, that particular road is one of the most vital truck routes to most of the city including Manhattan, and even more rail freight capacity won’t be able to completely remove the need for trucks to get in and out. So the Gowanus, at least, is here to stay one way or another. Hopefully at least it can stop polluting and depressing Sunset Park.