We will explore opportunities to create new land by constructing decks over transportation infrastructure
Throughout the city, in all five boroughs, highway and rail infrastructure is essential to life in the city. But for the most part, they are places where communities stop; where neighborhood is divided from neighborhood. This need not be so. (See photos above: Creation of Park Avenue)

Exposed railyards, highways, and rail lines that cleave neighborhoods apart have periodically been built over to open up surrounding land for development-most notably along Park Avenue in Midtown. Just a few blocks west sits Caemmerer Yards in the Hudson Yards area, which will be decked over for housing, offices, a cultural center and public open space. There are numerous opportunities to reknit the city's neighborhoods together.

As our search for land becomes more pressing in the coming decades, we must be prepared to work with communities to explore the potential of these sites.

Probably, the most frequently cited opportunity to use existing infrastructure sites more creatively is the Sunnyside Yards in Long Island City, Queens. With transit access nearby, and new commuter rail access planned as part of the East Side Access project, it has often been looked to as a potential development site. The open railyards span nearly 200 acres; developing even the first section could create hundreds of housing units with stores, schools, playing fields, and parks.

The site could also include an intermodal transportation facility at the intersection for seven subway lines, the Long Island Rail Road, and Amtrak. Residents could walk directly and safely to the shopping on Steinway Street in Astoria; residents in Long Island City could commute from an LIRR station within their neighborhood and children from the surrounding communities could play on new ballfields. By developing the site, the City could create an entirely new neighborhood, connect long-separated communities, eliminate the noise and blight of an exposed railyard, and provide a transportation hub for anyone traveling to or from Queens and Long Island.

To be sure, any such development would be complicated. It is an active and essential rail yard that cannot be disrupted, and additional infrastructure construction as part of the East Side Access project is now underway. As a major portal to Manhattan, the area already suffers from traffic congestion. On the other hand, it offers an exceptional opportunity to expand the existing Dutch Kills and Hunters Point neighborhoods, to provide for new places of employment, and to connect the areas east and west of the yards that are now crossed by only a few streets.

Other examples of possible platform projects are the former railroad space adjoining the Staten Island Ferry that could be used to connect the St. George neighborhood to its waterfront, and the 36th Street Rail Yards on the southern edge of the Green Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. Building on a platform over it could result in substantial new units of housing.

Exposed highways offer a similar opportunity. One such site is over the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE) between Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill also in Brooklyn. Just south of Atlantic Avenue, the BQE dips into a depressed section of roadway bordered on either side by Hicks Street. Continuing straight through to the entrance to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, this sunken highway divides Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens from the river and the community along Columbia Street.

A platform could be constructed over the below-grade section of the BQE to create nine new blocks of housing while reconnecting two neighborhoods. Another example of a disruptive highway that could potentially be covered over includes the Gowanus Expressway.

Some of these areas may be better suited than others for future development due to their accessibility to rail and mass transit, and the physical configuration of the sites. Given market conditions, some may not be able to support development for many years while others may make economic sense sooner. We know that the one-size-fits-all approach of earlier eras will not work. Building communities requires a carefully tailored approach to local conditions and needs that can only be developed with local input. We will begin the process of working with communities, the agencies that operate these facilities, and other stakeholders to sort through these complicated issues. (See table above: Expansion of Zoned Housing Capacity)

Progress (as of 4/22/08):
DCP is preparing a draft inventory of railyards, rail lines, and highways that have the potential to be decked over and redeveloped with housing and other uses. The decks could be developed with office, commercial and/or open space. The agency plans to issue a final report in summer 2008. In addition, the City and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) are moving forward with plans to deck over the Caemmerer Railyards in Manhattan. The MTA, the owner of the rail yards, selected a developer on March 26, 2008. Environmental work is expected to begin in Spring 2008 with the public review process to begin in 2009.