NYC DOT and NYC Parks are seeking community input on the East Village/Lower East Side Waterfront Access Study.

This study is considering opportunities to enhance the public realm within the vicinity of the FDR Drive from Montgomery Street to 14th Street. The study is considering:

- Mobility and circulation
- Safety and accessibility
- Open space, environment, resilience, and stormwater management
 
Community Workshop #2 was held on August 1, 2023 at the Henry Street Settlement Dale Jones Burch Neighborhood Center, where we gathered input on potential improvements for the study area. If you weren’t able to attend the workshop or have additional feedback, we want to hear from you! This survey shares some of the key content and questions from the workshop so that you can provide your feedback. Workshop materials are also available on the project website here.

Responses to the following survey questions will help the consultant team further refine the improvement concepts and inform the next phase of the study. All questions are optional. 

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* 1. Please tell us which community you live in. (It will be helpful for the team to understand who has responded to the survey and to determine if additional engagement is needed in a particular community in the study area.)

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* 2. Did you attend Community Workshop #2 on August 1?

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* 3. What is your name?

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* 4. What is your email address?

Improvement Concepts
At Community Workshop #2, the project team shared the following four improvement concepts and an evaluation of the benefits and challenges of each.

The following survey includes concept images and precedents that were shared at the workshop. Precedent images serve as examples from similar projects to illustrate an idea of what the improvement could look like; they may not be exactly comparable. All concept timelines listed below are general and approximate.

A form follows each concept for you to write in your feedback.
Improvement Concept 1 | Street Improvements
This concept aims to enhance the pedestrian environment along the FDR Drive service roads and South Street as well as connections to the waterfront and East River Park, to make them more green, accessible, and welcoming. NYC DOT will be studying this concept in more detail in the next phase of the study.

Tools for making these improvements could include adding street trees, plantings, green infrastructure, pedestrian plazas, traffic calming measures, and improving or adding bike lanes. 

The timeline for this concept would be approximately 2-4 years total with 6 months to 1 year of construction.

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* 5. Please add your comments below. (What do you like or dislike about this? What questions or concerns do you have? Are there specific areas along the corridor where the team should focus?)

Improvement Concept 2 | Pedestrian Bridges
This approach looks at opportunities to reconstruct or add additional pedestrian bridges along the corridor. NYC DOT will be studying this concept in more detail in the next phase of the study.

As part of the East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) project, three bridges are being reconstructed - at Corlears Hook Park, Delancey Street, and East 10th Street. There is an existing bridge at East 6th Street that will not be reconstructed as part of ESCR. 

Adding new or improving existing pedestrian bridges could simplify access to East River Park and the waterfront by minimizing the time it takes to get there and adding more options for crossing the FDR Drive.  

The timeline for this concept would be approximately 6 years total with 3 years of construction.

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* 6. Please add your comments below. (What do you like or dislike about this? What questions or concerns do you have? Where would a new bridge enhance access to East River Park for your community?)

Improvement Concept 3 | Deck Study
Many community members are familiar with the concept from the 2013 Rebuild by Design competition to construct a deck over FDR Drive. While this strategy was investigated as part of a vision to build flood protection behind East River Park, ultimately the preferred alternative for the East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) project was to elevate East River Park to provide flood protection at the river edge.

In response to community requests, the team studied the feasibility of decking over all of FDR Drive or portions of FDR Drive in this study area.

NYC DOT will not pursue this improvement concept further as part of this study.  From the ESCR environmental review and design, it is known that subsurface utilities such as the sewer system and Con Ed electrical lines pose significant constraints on constructing a deck. High-level analysis through this study, as illustrated in the image below, suggests that a deck would encroach significantly onto adjacent properties, and would require removing the pedestrian bridges that are currently in construction as part of ESCR. Based on the anticipated impacts to NYCHA Housing and East River Park, constraints posed by utilities, and the upstream and downstream sections of the FDR, NYC DOT will not pursue this improvement concept further. 

The timeline for this concept would be approximately 10-11 years total with 5 years of construction.

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* 7. Please add your comments below. (What do you like or dislike about this? What questions or concerns do you have? While this improvement concept will not be studied further, are there aspects of this concept (trees, recreational space, bicycle connections, etc.) that you would like to see incorporated into the street improvements or bridges concepts?)

Improvement Concept 4 | At-Grade Crossings
This concept studied reconstructing FDR Drive as a boulevard with signalized, at-grade crossings for pedestrians to cross and access the waterfront. The team assumed this would look similar to West Street and the West Side Highway.

High-level analysis showed that converting FDR Drive to a boulevard only from 14th Street to Montgomery Street would create safety issues related to the transitions from a limited-access highway condition north and south of the study area, and would significantly reduce capacity of the roadway with the potential to result in more traffic on local streets and significant confestion throughout the city. This concept would need to be considered as part of a study that would examine a broader portion of the FDR Drive corridor and evaluate its impact on local streets and parking in detail. Based on these findings, NYCDOT will not pursue this concept further as part of this study.

The timeline for this concept would be approximately 5-7 years total with 2 years of construction.

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* 8. Please add your comments below. (What do you like or dislike about this? What questions or concerns do you have? While this improvement concept will not be studied further, are there aspects of this concept (trees, pedestrian and bicycle connections, etc.) that you would like to see incorporated into the street improvements or bridges concepts?)

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* 9. Is there anything else you’d like to share with us related to this study?

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