Brooklyn Waterfront Rehabilitation Planned

A major remediation in Sunset Park will bring new public amenities.
Also, a New York gubernatorial candidate outlines his priorities for new infrastructure projects and reform of the state's transportation agencies.

Spitzer Endorses Major Projects

Eliot Spitzer, the incumbent state attorney general seeking the Democratic nomination for New York governor, named several major infrastructure projects that he would pursue if elected in November. In addition, Spitzer pledged to appoint a task force to review the performance of state transportation agencies.

In a speech to the annual assembly of the Regional Plan Association, a nonprofit transportation policy group, Spitzer said he would prioritize the construction of a new Second Avenue subway line, including its eventual extensions into Brooklyn and the Bronx. He also named other priorities, including:
o the East Side Access project to bring Long Island Rail Road trains into Grand Central Station in Manhattan
o a $5 billion replacement for the Tappan Zee Bridge over the Hudson River between Westchester and Rockland counties, a project that he suggested leasing to a private firm
o the planned extension of the No. 7 subway line to Manhattan's Far West Side
o upgrades to Newburgh's Stewart Airport
o and a feasibility study for the planned Cross Harbor Freight Tunnel in New York City.

In addition, Spitzer said his task force would evaluate and possibly outline overhauls of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the New York State Department of Transportation, and the New York Thruway Authority.

In a separate speech to the RPA, Tom Suozzi, the Nassau County Executive and a former co-chair of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council who is also seeking the Democratic nod for governor, questioned how Spitzer would pay for projects he has endorsed. Suozzi has promoted a congestion mitigation plan that would charge drivers for access to certain roads, in part to generate transportation project revenue.

Two candidates vying for the Republican gubernatorial nomination had yet to fully outline their transportation priorities as of mid-spring. One of the candidates, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, has pledged in the past to be more aggressive than Spitzer in dealing with the MTA, and has generally criticized increased government spending in the states. His primary rival, State Assemblyman John Faso, has also generally criticized the state's spending levels and its increasing debt load.

Planning to Start for Aqueduct

The New York City Department of Environmental Protection is starting facility planning and preliminary design for the Kensico City Tunnel project, the third stage of the City Water Tunnel No. 3 effort begun in 1970.

The agency tapped a joint venture of San Francisco-based URS Corp., TAMS/Earth Tech of Long Beach, Calif., and Gannett Fleming of Harrisburg, Pa., to plan the tunnel, slated to open in 2009. The "UTG" team will supply preliminary designs, alternative analysis, environmental impact analysis, and route, tunnel size, and construction method options.

The $2.5 billion, 16-mi. tunnel will run from Kensico Reservoir in Westchester County to the Van Cortland Valve Chamber in the Bronx.

Waterfront Remediation Set

A joint city, state, and federal financing effort has yielded $36 million for a project to convert the 14-acre Bush Terminal Piers site in Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood into a park.

The planned cleanup and redevelopment of the waterfront from 43rd to 51st streets, to be overseen by the New York City Economic Development Corp., entails:

o installation of a 2-ft. soil cover on most of the site, with a 6-in. cover in a wooded area
o controls and monitoring for landfill gas and groundwater
o removal of shallow pond sediments and filling and covering of deep pond sediments
o and shoreline stabilization.

The park would have athletic fields, walkways, a boat-building area, a fishing pier, and restaurant booths. A pier rehabilitation and enhancement of wetlands are also planned.

The site was contaminated in the 1970s by illegal disposal of construction and demolition debris and liquid wastes. The state Department of Environmental Conservation has said the site does not pose significant threat to public health or the environment.

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