I-684/NYWB Central Corridor Tunnel at Heathcote, Scarlsdale, and Northern New Rochelle

 I-684 Tunnel, with restored NYWB RR, in the north end of New Rochelle (in my own neighborhood), from the Stratton Road HISTORIC/LANDMARK "Quaker Ridge" Station to the Heathcote Bypass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

N.Y. REQUIRES Constructing Revived Westchester Central Corridor Expressway, as multi model tunnel highway with restored NYWB RR

WESTCHESTER/UPSTATE CENTRAL ARTERY PROJECT

 

(appended January 20, 2024- since changed, eliminating the California Road and South White Plains "Ridgeway" alignments, and replacing the west of the land-marked station at 556 Stratton Road, with a Hilary Circle routing to allow restoration of the demolished in 2012 Marks Estate Mansion with appropriate complimentary Military School Scale residences with *minimum* 3750 foot square footage, prioritized for existing communities.)

Just consider the ramifications of some emergency requiring evacuating Long Island.

 

Consider the traffic via the Throggs Neck Bridge.  Yes, long term, twin it & reconstruct and widen the Clearview Expressway primarily as cut and cover tunnel, that extends south/southeasterly (212St/Pl, & Hempstead Avenue), fully encased with exhaust filtration to the vicinity of Belmont Park, and continuing south along the Belt as park covered tunnel.  Ask the locals in the Hempstead Avenue area their assistance in  setting the exact alignment for a pair of 4 lane with full outer shoulder cut and cover tunnels.  Seek their assistance in what to do atop.  Full restoration of existing neighborhood configuration (with the older more architecturally important houses moved/shored up), with or without a new linear park to connect the Belt Park to the Clearview, and with or without some new higher rise residential apartments/condos that would establish a precedent pf providing more generous livable square footage.  Of course we could also include new tunnel caps atop portions of the Belt Parkway, establishing a more capacious park corridor atop that and our new mixed use expressway tunnels southward to the Sunrise Highway (which must get a series of new cut and cover tunnels along the RR corridor to make a full continuous expressway corridor to Amityville (I-78).  And do likewise with the Belt's northern extension, the Cross Island Parkway along the shore to restore local waterfront access.

 

We all know that the northbound Throggs Neck link would be massively jammed - particularly along the I-95 Cross Bronx Expressway/George Washington Bridge to I-80.  And, in the case of a tsumani, or radiation incident, it does not help that the I-95 New England Thruway runs closely along the Long Island Sound's mainland shore.

 

So, let's consider an all new link, extending northerly from I-95/Throggs Neck Expressway, past Co Op City and into Westchester County, to carry traffic to and from Long Island to both I-684 AND a new Hastings on the Hudson Bridge to New Jersey's Palisades Parkway.

From the north, this I-684 TUNNEL would extend from a completely reconstructed I-287/I-684 interchange, enter a tunnel alongside Bryant Avenue, before turning south into the NY, Westchester & 'Boston RR corridor - its Westchester County portion dismantled early 1940s  - but still in use in the Bronx as the Dyre Avenue IRT, and connect with I-95 from the south.

This I-684 TUNNEL PROJECT would be designed to include full eventual restoration of the 1912-1937 N.Y., Westchester & Boston RR.

 

It would start with the initial, southernmost portion, from the IRT Dyre Avenue line, to a connection with the Metro North New Haven line, with expressway completely submerged/enclosed for effective sound containment and exhaust filtration, and with RR initially as a high viaduct (bridge), before descending into a trench/tunnel.

 

Design would include a new set of reconstructed architecturally faithful mixed use "stations' at Sanford Street, and East 3rd Street, to a connection with the Metro North, with the initial stub of the northern continuation into the North End of New Rochelle.  Have that established as an IRT link (requiring legislation extending that authority) from the Bronx Dyre Avenue line, to MetroNorth New Haven line/AMTRAK.  The continuation north would go to a faithful replication of the Wykagil Station. This RR would enter into a tunnel with the expressway through the northern edge of Ward Acres, and continuing past the historic "Quaker Ridge" Station, continuing to a new station, accessible from the shopping center to the west, behind the historic station building at the Scarsdale 5 Corners Heathecote Junction.  Would continue as tunnel along and past the Heathecote Bypass (which would become a part of this tunnel).  Whereas the I-684 Tunnel would veer from this corridor through the lightly developed area behind Archbishop Stephinac HS & Our Lady of Sorrows Church, this RR would continue north into a new station within the enormous Westchester Mall.  It would then continue north to Westchester County Airport, giving that a DIRECT passenger rail link into downtown White Plains, to Heathecote Junction, Wykagil, and Mt. Vernon.  And we have the option of restoring 4 track service within the Bronx Dyre Avenue line.

 

This new expressway link starts at the 233rd street northbound lefthand exit.

 

This project MUST include a suitable reconstruction of I-95 from the I-95/Throggs Neck conjunction.

 

Ideally it should include reconstructing the 8 lane trench as a 14 lane cut and cover tunnel (so the Throggs Neck link gets a full 8 lane northern continuation).   Yet that could be arguably deferred.  But it is mandatory to extend the outermost northbound lane north past the Pelham Parkway/Shore Road exit.  Move the footbridge 24 feet over, to allow the space for 2 additional northbound lanes, but construct only the first, bringing that to the right-hand exit to the northbound Hutchinson River Parkway.

But would we want to simply add extra traffic to what is rightfully decried as a grotesque waste of space?

 

Yes, that's right, grotesque.  And I am not just writing about the silly lane drop/traffic choke, further exacerbated by the poor design of I-95 on the inland side of the HRP.  It is an effective wall separating Co Op City from the inland, making it more isolated, less accessible. (How about some proposals for somehow restoring/recreating a portion of the 1960-1964 "Freedomland U.S.A. amusement park).

 

So why not explore the idea of replacing the I-95 segment from the area of its interchange with the HRP northward alongside Co Op City, to the vicinity of its 233rd Street exit, with a new cut and cover enclosed expressway tunnel, removing the I-95 overpass over Barlow Avenue.  Explore ideas for the surface, new parkland, new recreational facilities, new commercial development, perhaps in the spirit of Freedomland?

 

We must improve I-95 between the Throggs Neck Expressway (easily widened to 4 lanes in each direction) and 222nd Street (spot of the northbound lefthand exit that veers inland onto Baychester Avenue.  BEST OPTION: a UNIFIED PLAN, addressing the entire stretch, including replacing the 8 lane trench with a 14 lane set of rectangular box expressway tunnels,equipped with exhaust filtration.  Widen it away from neighborhoods, and replace expand the adjacent parkland atop.

WIDEN the 222nd Street ramps to a minimum of 3 LANES PER DIRECTION.

 

Connect these ramps into an underground link turning to run along the east side of the conveniently situated Dyre Avenue IRT segment of the 1911-1937/43 New York, Westchester & Boston RR, that had its Westchester County segments foolishly demolished during a horrifically caustic scrap medal drive costing way more in demolished assets.

 

RECONSTRUCT the NY, Westchester & Boston main corridor to White Plains, and eventually a further continuation northward, exploring different ideas of such use, including Westchester Airport, all doable incrementally.

RECONSTRUCT architecturally faithful replicas of the original Sandford Boulevard, East 3rd Street, and Metro North transfers in Mt. Vernon, and the Wykagyl in New Rochelle, and 5 Corners in Scarsdale.  Have the expressway tunnel veer to the left, away from the historic "Quaker Ridge" Station at Stratton Road, officially recognized landmark, which would be PRESERVED!  Have the area of the removed houses made into an expanded Carpenters Pond area preserve.  Have the expressway tunnel then veer right of Weaver Street, avoiding the commercial properties, before turning back onto the Heathecote Bypass alignment.  Purchase the required houses for removal, and create a linear green park atop the railway/expressway tunnel.  Use electronic tolling to offset expenses and restrict use.

BUT MAKE IT MORE UNDERGROUND.  A revived NY,W&B makes perfect economic sense with contained development density, and future extensions northward.  And it is going to introduce significant rail car traffic, especially if ever adopted by AMTRAK.

 

Ask Eastchester Heights their preference regarding a NYW&B station, as well as expressway access ramps. 

 

Have it as a cut and cover expressway tunnel alongside the Dyre Avenue IRT line to the Bronx-Westchester County line, and along and or beneath it, northward into the City of White Plains, turning to follow Bryant Avenue to a reconstructed interchange with I-287 and I-684.  Our I-684 Tunnel!  It can take heavy northbound traffic from the Throggs Neck Bridge from Queens/Long Island, effectively upstate to I-84.  

Let's include a new water spillway to alleviate flooding on the lower Hutchinson River.

 

It MUST include, or at least be designed to include, a western split from Eastchester Heights.  This would run through Eastchester in a tunnel following California Road and crossing under Route 22 (with access ramps to the retail area).

 

From there, it could emerge upon a high arched bridge crossing over the Bronx River valley, remaining elevated, to alongside the former Alexanders, crossing over Central Avenue and entering a cut and cover tunnel under Jackson Avenue and emerging again (displacing the nursing home near the Sprain Parkway), and continue to a new interchange with I-87.  This would allow traffic from Long Island the options of transferring to these local arterial.  I would call this segment I-687.

But rather than simply connecting with I-87, have it continue west into Hastings on the Hudson to a new bridge crossing the Hudson River, to connect with the Palisades Parkway New Jersey.  

 

From I-95 by Co Op City, it would be a 10 lane expressway tunnel (accepting 4 northbound lanes from I-95 and 2 northbound lanes from a subsequently constructed Route 1 separate electronically tolled traffic tunnel to Hunts Point favoring trucks).   Of these, 2 lanes would veer off into the tunnel connections for an I-80 Tunnel along 2nd Street in Mt Vernon heading west.  I-684 expressway tunnel would be 4 lanes northbound, and 5 lanes southbound (for a southbound I-684 Tunnel connection to the I-80 Tunnel), continuing underground into Chester Heights, to an underground split to a pair of this tunnel's extensions, 3 lanes northbound, and 2 lanes southbound- to I-684, and 3 lanes each direction towards the new trans Hudson span to the Palisades Parkway.  This overall "Y" Route arrangement establishes an invaluable vital traffic artery between Queens/Long Island, northward to I-684, and westerly to the Palisades Parkway.  

 

UNCORK the northbound Throggs Neck traffic, ported northward to I-684 AND the west via a Hastings on the Hudson Bridge to the Palisades Parkway- considerably superior to porting said traffic all through Brooklyn and Staten Island to a NJTK and I-78.

 

 It is ABSOLUTELY VITAL/REQUIRED/NECESSARY for evacuation from Long Island.

 

 

Yonkers, N.Y. Hudson River Bridge/Northern Metro Regional Bypass

 

The George Washington Bridge NEEDS alternative routes- the NYC Metro Area must have additional trans Hudson River crossings.  Northwards to the Tappan Zee Bridge, Yonkers is the best, for connecting with the existing east-west Cross County Parkway- a freeway reconstructed during the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s that excludes trucks.

Yonkers, NY authorities appear to suggest the preferred site, marked by the naming of "Bridge Street" at the east west axis of Ludlow Streets, where it would land, with its approach eastwards into a hill by Route 9, where the highway would continue within tunnel, with connections to and from the north to the Cross County Parkway.

 

Extend that Yonkers, Ludlow Street axis to New Jersey, where it would land.  It would have connections with the Palisades Parkway.  And it must have a minimum of 6 lane mainline continuing west, as simply linking to the Palisades Parkway is problematic given the lack of a continuous traffic light free link to I-95.  Years ago, 1940s-1950s, the Yonkers, N.Y. - Alpine, New Jersey bridge was proposed to have an all new freeway continuing west, which was not built.  Instead, have a tunnel that arcs southward to follow the Northern RR, to connect with I-95/I-80.  

The I-80/I-95 to bridge link would be via tunnel, cut and cover along the Northern Line., and then curved towards facing Yonkers, with portal by the Palisades Parkway.  Curved portion would be bored to avoid surface disruption, emerging just past Montammy Golf Club, at the Palisades Parkway, to the bridge to Yonkers, N.Y., along Ludlow Street.  A minimum 6 travel lane facility could be either a single tunnel with two levels, or a pair of single or two level tunnels.  Existing 57 foot diameter TBMs require a pair of tunnels, each with a single 3 lane roadway, with only about 6 feet of shoulder space, or a double level 2 lane roadway with the 6 foot shoulder space.  Larger tunnels, 62, 67, 72 feet diameter would be preferable, particularly for line of sight within tunnels that are curved.

 

In Yonkers, this moled land approach tunnel might be a short segment, that emerges to cross atop the Saw Mill River Parkway, elevated over the valley, before entering a second tunnel further east as the topography rises, that extends further east to cross I-87, the Raceway Park parking lot, and the Bronx River into the City of Mt. Vernon, transitioning to cut and cover tunnel along 2nd Street.

 

Or instead it could be continuous with the west Yonkers segment descending to pass beneath Saw Mill River.

 

In Mt. Vernon, this cut and cover tunnel follows 2nd Street before turning south along the old N.Y., Westchester & Boston RR corridor, and continuing in the Bronx alongside that same RR's currently extant Dyre Avenue IRT line, to connect to and from the south with I-95 via an augmented 222nd Street exit, extending to the Throggs Neck Bridge Expressway, and providing a valuable new traffic corridor for handling potential emergency situation evacuation traffic.

 

 

N.Y. MUST Build to Facilitate Long Island Evacuation

 

 

Imagine an emergency situation/mass evacuation from Long Island.

 

Imagine the traffic bottlenecks from the Throggs Neck Bridge onward, with traffic from Long Island funneled to the Cross Bronx, the Hutchinson River Parkway (HRP) and I-95.

 

Clearly we must have the I-287 Cross Sound Link connecting L.I. with Westchester County, best as a pair of over-water spans, with the shore approaches enclosed in tunnel, as well as offshore a minimum of 1100 feet.  This avoids the cost of a full miles long tunnel, while providing the mitigation of tunnel enclosure where needed the most.

 

Clearly we must have a southern NYC metro regional tier, of new tunnel expressways, consisting of an augmented Verazanno Narrows link, with new east-west link to the Conduit Avenue/JFK Belt corridor, beneath new linear parkspace, with new cut and cover expressway tunnel east to Sunrise Highway, as well as north to near Belmont Park, to a pair of tunnels along Hempstead Boulevard and 212nd Place as effectively the Clearview Expressway. extension.

 

Certainly we could use additional cross-water capacity, perhaps with a pair of 2 lane tunnels directly from Brooklyn to New Jersey, as well as another such set flanking the VNB.

 

Yet we not only lack the east-west mixed traffic link between New Jersey and southern Long Island, we are hampered by serious deficiencies for distributing vehicular traffic entering the mainland, made worse by I-95's lane drop from 8 to 6 lanes at its interchange with Pelham Parkway, as well as the roadway geometry of southbound I-95 immediately north of the HRP with the reduced line of sight issues caused by the design of the northbound left-hand off-ramp.  

 

We are already long overdue for a project to extend the outermost northbound I-95 lane at least to the  northbound HRP., and for improving the line of sight of southbound I-95 to the north,

 

Future needs call for a more expansive plan.

 

First, reconstruct the existing open trench and surface 8 lane I-95 between the Pelham Parkway and the split to the Throggs Neck Bridge, with a greater capacity cut and cover tunnel with exhaust filtration.trench, building outwards by excavating space under the adjacent parallel roads with added road space re-strip able for adding 2 lanes in each direction & wider shoulders, and with no lane drop before the off ramp to the northbound HRP.

 

Second, establish a new alternate route for traffic from Long Island, to divert traffic from I-95, of a new north-south expressway tunnel, splitting from I-95 at the current northbound lefthand East 222nd Street exit, and following the Dyre Avene IRT/NY, Westchester & "Boston" RR corridor into southern Westchester County, N.Y.  Such had been planned during the 1950s as a Central Corridor Expressway, though as a conventional, non tunneled design. Our 21st century design cut and cover (with brief open trench segments) would run alongside this RR in the Bronx, and into Westchester. 

 

Industrial area segments would include air rights replacement buildings for local businesses.

 

Project would be designed to accommodate a substituent restoration of the NY, Westchester & "Boston" with the elevated segment extending into Westchester restored, and with the expressway tunnel designed to facilitate reconstructing the RR viaduct and accommodating the restored RR trench, with the project including a replication of the demolished in 2016 East 6th Street NY&B, and the below street level station in Wykagyl in the North end of New Rochelle.

 

Further north, this cut and cover tunnel expressway tunnel would devote the surface to a linear park and allowing a subsequent restoration of the former NY, Westchester & Boston RR service with architecturally faithful stations so incorporated.  Have it divert to the west to preserve the architecturally monumental  Stratton Road "Quaker Ridge" station.  Would divert to follow Bryant Avenue within White Plains, NY to a reconstructed interchange with I-684.

And together with it, have a plan for it to include a new link extending westerly in Mt. Vernon, transitioning from cut and cover to moled tbm tunneling to pass into Yonkers beneath the Bronx River, Raceway Park, with connections to and from the north with I-87, and continuing west to emerge along Ludlow Street to a new Hudson River Bridge connecting Yonkers N.Y. and Alpine N.J., ideally with a tunnel link to I-95 just east the interchange with I-80