Best of 2006 Awards
Route 9A South Promenade
AWARD OF MERIT: Highway and Roadway
 The New York State Department of Transportation’s $69 million reconstruction of Route 9A in Lower Manhattan has resulted in a rehabilitated roadway and tree-lined streetscape in the “Promenade South” segment of the road between Battery Place and West Thames St.
“It’s a thoughtful project in a rough place to build,” said one of the judges. Route 9A, which runs beside the World Trade Center site further north, sustained severe damage in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The portion leading toward Battery Park was used often by heavy equipment serving in the recovery effort. While the department of transportation built an interim, six-lane section of the roadway in 2002, the 1-mi. Promenade South project replaces that temporary road with a pedestrian-friendly, European-style streetscape.
Vollmer Associates of New York designed the roadway with DMJM Harris of New York as resident engineer. The main goal was to improve vehicular and bicycle flow and add open and green spaces. Conti of New York began work on the new project in October 2004. The road opened in July and work ended in October.
Among the highlights was creating a wider sidewalk along the east edge of the highway and new crosswalks. The team also extended the north portal roof of the Battery Park Underpass tunnel by 65 ft., providing a new u-turn with easier access for vehicles entering the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. The team assembled precast roof elements onsite and lifted them into place over the underpass, which resulted in only a slightly reduced vertical clearance.
“It’s a complicated project, given all of the other things you have going on in Lower Manhattan,” said another judge. Other project elements included relocating and rerouting an extensive underground utility system and the installation of walkways, pavers, protective bollards at crosswalks, decorative street lighting, and an irrigation system for landscape plantings.
There was extensive use of stone, including granite pavers and curbs instead of concrete sidewalks, ribbons of granite interlaced with concrete for crosswalks, and granite landscape walls that serve as seats.
During construction, the state agency required measures to cut pollution and dust, such as fuel and engine exhaust-filtering devices and a three-minute limit on equipment idling whenever possible.
The roadway utilizes 50-year-life pavement, partly to allow it to handle heavy equipment to be used in future stages of the downtown redevelopment.
Key Players
Owner: New York State Department of Transportation
Resident Engineer: DMJM Harris
Designer: Vollmer Associates
Designer-Primary Landscape Architect: Vollmer Associates
Construction Manager: Conti of New York
Landscape Architect: Donna Walcavage Landscape Architects
Structural Engineer: EarthTech
Geotechnical Engineer: Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers
Engineering Consultant: RBA Group; KS Engineers; IH Engineers
Stonemason: Tribec Ltd.
Landscaping: Bohemia Garden Center
Paving: Columbus Construction
Electrical: Hellman Electric
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