Greene Street,
looking north.
Greene Street,
looking north.
Greene Street is an interesting street to walk down because one sees
an abundant amount of restored buildings. Many of these buildings
are freshly painted, and their brick facades have been scrubbed clean.
Another
view of the corner of Broome and Greene Streets. A majority of these
buildings would have had to have been razed for highway construction.
If LOMEX had been built, the expressway would have provided the neighborhood
with these amenities: "The underside of the structure would allow surface
streets to pass under, and accommodate a parking mall with a 48-foot-wide
roadway and 12-foot-wise sidewalks on either side. The parking mall
was to accommodate 1400 cars." - from nycroads.com. What a selling
point!!
The
parking lot under the Gowanus Expressway in Sunset Park, Brooklyn services
the cars pretty well, but one has to ask - "where are all of the people?".
Unfortunately, elevated expressways do not foster a quality community life
underneath their viaducts. I don't think you would see all of the
boutiques and specialty shops that are along the south side of Broome Street
today had the LOMEX been built. When standing under the Gowanus,
the booming noise of trucks and cars overhead is deafening. Even during
broad daylight, the area under the viaduct is perpetually dark. The
LOMEX would have had a blighting affect on the surrounding neighborhood.
A view
of Greene Street, looking south.
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