Is not it absurd that Manhattan bound traffic from Staten Island is so pushed upon the Verrazano Narrow Bridge?
Why not instead better use Route 440 to and through the Holland Tunnel?
Because the Holland Tunnel is irresponsibly deficient in capacity!
It was constructed 1924-1927, being opened to traffic the year when Charles Lindbergh flew the Atlantic non stop.
And ever since, in the past nearly 100 years, ZERO ADDITIONAL CAPACITY.
Not even a simple addition of an extra westbound tube, so the past proposals for a Lower Manhattan Expressway (1929-1969), as well as Westway (1974-1985), were hobbled by what would have been an atrocious westbound traffic jam, especially the LME, being fed from the east by its Brooklyn Queens Expressway connection to the Long Island Expressway, plus a Bushwick Expressway from the Conduit Avenue/JFK Airport corridor.
And why is it that we have ZERO grade separation on the "West Side Highway" corridor, south of 57th Street?
It is a somewhat positive development that persons involved with Donald Trump's project between 57th and 72nd Street planned a set of 3 lane box tunnels, northbound beneath the Riverside Drive southern extension, at least for smaller vehicles. I ought to know, as I attended and testified at its sole public hearing way back in 1999.
But it is a sad commentary that so many were bamboozled by the fraudulent "environmentalist" movement against not only the 1974-1985 Westway project as then planned, but taken in by the lie that the United States was somehow too poor to afford a modern, interstate grade (aka full SHOULDERS) highway TUNNEL, for placing the main flow of vehicular traffic underground, freeing up the surface for a more pedestrian any cyclist friendly environment,
The anti Westway movement as we know, sadly failed to address any potential design issues, nor preservationist concerns. The pier district it would have displaced was largely removed anyway (except in Chelsea). The development was at least an extension of the existing street grid, rather than an urban enclave as with Battery Park City, or the Mott Haven area of the southwest Bronx, south of Yankee Stadium, where ill placed development has commenced to stymie placing the lower Deegan underground in a pair of rectangular box tunnel with an extra travel lane in each direction along with SHOULDERS.
The moronic orchestrated anti Westway movement displayed every indication of the interests of big petroleum and Wall Street high finance- obsessing against the project's TUNNEL segment (but nothing about its elevated segment to the north of 29th Street to 57th Street), and lying through their teeth in insisting that outright cancelling Westway (or ANY modern expressway replacement of the antiquated viaduct constructed at about the time of the Holland Tunnel) was "unaffordable".
Faux environmentalists spouted against the tunnel upon specious "clean air" arguments. AKA the pollution "hot spots" within 17 feet or so of the portals would have been embarrassing to the petroleum industry. Better to just adhere to the petro industry maximum that "the solution to pollution is dilution" (just note how these anti highway folks say NOTHING about cleaner fuel standards as greater use of ETHANOL, our cleanest and renewable source of fuel octane for enhanced engine efficiency. And why cancel a highway tunnel upon an already established desire line corridor for enhanced MTA funding? Because that serves to deflect from the impending computerization = 1983 - of the NYSE, along with the phase out of the minuscule 0.1% rate NYSE trading/transfer/sales tax, 1978-1981. Yes, 0.1% considered unacceptable, even though retail taxes are an upwards of 7.75%. And narly a word from the supposed liberal progressive DNC/RINO tools, with DNC spokespersons continuing to say nothing about this while bashing the Reagan tax cuts, but not the HUGH CAREY tax elimination so here elucidated.
For whatever it was worth, Westway was scuttled by September 11, 1985 with Albany throwing in the towel.
Officials would essentially do likewise, offering only a few partial expressway (grader separated) proposals for this 91 corridor, but nothing with full enclosure- to placate the petroleum industry and wall streets faux environmentalist orchestrated organizations.
They eventually selected a $360 million "boulevard" plan of a nice new concrete roadbed adorned with a raised landscaped center median, alongside a waterfront pedestrian and cyclist path with a NARROW sliver of park.
Insanely, they failed to design/construct tis upon any sort of fixed structure to preserve this roadscape for subsequently constructing a cut and cover tunnel, within the existing West Side landstrip.
So this $360 million must be amortized over the past 3 decades, roughly $10 annually, in order to do the right thing and construct a twin set of cut and cover tunnels, each with 3 travel lanes and SHOULDERS, at least 12 feet for the righthand shoulders, and PLACING THE ACCESS RAMPS WITHIN THE SURFACE MEDIAN. That's right. NO shoulders emerging or opening up on the right hand sides of either northbound or southbound West Street/11th Avenue or 12th Avenue. This therefore places the express traffic AWAY from the est Side Boulevard's outer edges, eliminating traffic conflicts along the waterfront park and the inland side. Doing this requires either a "braided" arrangement, with the submerged tunnels swapping positions so the access ramps are to the right within the tunnels, t avoid placing the underground ramps to the left.
Construct these braided West Side Highway land tunnels within the existing land corridor, from the new Holland Tunnel tubes, northward to connect with the Trump development tunnels around 58th Street. Better yet, employ the existing northbound Trump development tunnel as an access ramp into the grid at or somewhere north of 72nd Street, likeliest 79th Street, using its southbound tunnel for northbound traffic and construct a 3rd such box immediately west for southbound traffic.
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