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A rendering of the soon-to-be-completed Promenade South
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Building on the landscaped beauty of Promenade South, the New York State Department of Transportation (SDOT) is now a few weeks away from finalizing plans to improve West Street around the World Trade Center (WTC) site.
The plans address the area of West Street -- also known as "State Route 9A" -- between West Thames and Chambers Streets. They will tie into the soon-to-be completed Promenade South roadway and sidewalk improvements at Battery Place, bringing greatly widened sidewalks, recreation areas, and lush greenery to the heavily trafficked roadway.
The project, called the "West Street Promenade," also will restore Route 9A to its pre-9/11 state, with eight total north-south traffic lanes that connect to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel (BBT), Battery Park Underpass to the FDR highway, and Battery Place. The project also will make the West Street Underpass to the BBT north-south reversible to accommodate rush-hour traffic.
Promenade plans are expected to be finalized by August 2006, followed by eight months of materials procurement before the Notice to Proceed is issued in spring 2007. Twenty-six months of construction will follow in four phases through mid-2009, during which time community updates and regular outreach will continue.
Major roadway changes for the West Street Promenade involve slightly shifting the entire highway to the west at the WTC site, where the Memorial plaza will be built at the southwest quadrant.
The Vesey Street pedestrian bridge eventually will be removed, with the WTC underground concourse at Fulton Street replacing it as a major pedestrian crossing to and from the World Financial Center. The Rector Street pedestrian bridge may also be removed.
Meanwhile, many improvements to at-grade pedestrian crossings are in the works, such
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| SDOT plans several improvements for crossing Chambers Street |
as wider, tree-lined sidewalks and medians, clearer crosswalks and signals, and designated "refuge" areas. Vehicular turn lanes on West Street at Warren and Vesey Streets also will be modified to better accommodate pedestrian crossings.
The West Street Promenade also will maintain the bikeway and vehicle layover lanes along the highway, while adding granite sidewalks, trees, and other hardy greenery along its entire length.
On the west side of West Street between Third Place and Albany Streets, the promenade will bring several neighborhood amenities. Community gardens, playgrounds, basketball courts, open lawns, and a water maze and sandbox will turn the highly functional edges of West Street into a recreational destination for all of Lower Manhattan.
SDOT is coordinating its federally funded construction plans with the Port Authority to best accommodate WTC redevelopment needs. The work will be phased based on infrastructure needs and construction traffic patterns at the WTC as well as adjacent work sites, such as at the new Goldman Sachs development in Battery Park City.
Throughout the two-year construction process, SDOT will maintain pedestrian walkways and crosswalks along West Street, as well as three vehicular-traffic lanes in both directions, though roadways will undergo detours at times.
SDOT will adhere to Environmental Performance Commitments, as issued by the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center. They include use of ultra-low-sulfur fuel, diesel particulate filters on equipment, a three-minute limit on vehicle idling, dust control, noise control, neighborhood impact monitoring and protection, and contingency plans.
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| SDOT's recent open house addressed community input |
To share plans with the community and cull public feedback before finalizing them this summer, SDOT recently hosted an open house at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. Nearly 70 downtown neighbors attended the event, discussing plans one-on-one with more than a dozen SDOT project managers and planners.
Visitors, many of them residents of Battery Park City, Tribeca, and WTC south, learned what the design elements include as well as why and how architects made their decisions. At Chambers Street, for example, project managers pointed out illegal pedestrian crossing that often occurs across West Street and explained that new crosswalk and street lighting, combined with barriers and on-street striping, will help prevent jaywalking.
"We're trying to promote the 24-7, mixed-use community -- to create a healthy, vibrant street life," said SDOT planner and spokesperson Heather Sporn. "We want to make this area a pleasure for people to walk around."
To keep up with the latest plans for the West Street Promenade, visit www.Route9A.info, email SDOT at route9a@dot.state.ny.us, or call the hotline at (800) 714-0454.
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