As
we continue to make our way along the proposed Cross-Brooklyn Expressway
route, we can see that three-story apartment buildings line the north side
of the right-of-way. The buildings are perched a top of the trench.
A cyclone fence guards the ROW from unauthorized access.
Here is the
reconstructed 59th Street overpass that we encounter along the ROW.
This overpass allows for a two-tracked system, if the railroad chooses
to utilize the dirt path to the right of the current single tracked system.
I found
this little stone retaining wall to be quite odd. Stones, stacked
four rows high, serve as a retaining wall for the north-side trench.
One has to wonder why the railroad, when first constructing the line, would
make the effort to build this little wall. I guess it is serving
it's purpose after all of these years... the fill from the trench is not
eroding in to the tracks!
The
railroad ROW is now passing trough the Borough Park section of Brooklyn.
Apartment buildings line the north side of the ROW, while large single-family
houses line the south side of the ROW.
Cross-Brooklyn Expressway engineers would have had to knock-down many
of the apartments on the north side of the expressway in order to accommodate
the eight-lane trenched highway configuration in the area.
Those homeowners on the south side of the expressway would have been overlooking
the expressway trench and would have had to endure the loud automobile
and truck noises emanating from the trench.
One
of the larger overpasses along the route in this area. This overpass
design is interesting in that it provided for a three-track rail configuration
in this area. A closer look at the overpass shows that the catenary
brackets are still mounted to the side of the overpass.
-->> Click Here to Continue Along Section
2 of the CBE!