Archinect - News

Triboro train connecting Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx could become a reality

2019-10-18T15:17:00-04:00

It's been 95 years since passenger trains rumbled down the tracks of the Bay Ridge Branch. The MTA has decided to study whether it makes sense to restore passenger service to the line, which is owned by the Long Island Rail Road, runs from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn to Ridgewood, Queens, and is only used by freight trains now. "We first proposed this in the '90s," says Kate Slevin, of the Regional Plan Association.

If built, the proposed Triboro Line could eventually run for 24 miles and connect the boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx.

Describing the plan, Kate Slevin of the Regional Plan Association tells Spectrum News, "We don't have unlimited resources here in New York City, as we know, so the fact that we already have tracks there, that are underutilized, really means a lot."

Aside from finding a way to pay for the initiative, backers of the plan must work out a use agreement so that the city's transit agency can use the rails, as portions of the tracks in question are owned either by Amtrak or commercial rail entity CSX.

Peterson Rich Office to research NYCHA upgrades

2019-06-26T16:26:00-04:00

The Regional Plan Association of New York (RPA) has named Miriam Peterson and Nathan Rich of architecture firm Peterson Rich Office (PRO) as the organization’s inaugural Richard Kaplan Chairs for Urban Design.

The year-long research position, funded to “address a critical need for preservation and better design in the New York City region” will position PRO to continue their ongoing efforts to understand and articulate potential solutions for the New York City Housing Authority’s (NYCHA) current capital needs deficit.

View of PRO's Roof By Roof proposal that would add new housing units atop existing NYCHA housing towers. Image courtesy of Peterson Rich Office.

According to research already conducted by PRO, NYCHA is currently suffering from $45 billion in unmet capital needs, a byproduct, according to a 2018 RPA report, of “decades of neglect and underinvestment by all levels of government.” That total includes deferred general maintenance and lead abatement issues in individual un...

RPA report envisions New Jersey’s Meadowlands as the first "Climate Change National Park"

2018-02-14T19:30:00-05:00

Released last fall, the Regional Plan Association’s (RPA) Fourth Plan includes 61 recommendations focused on improving and expanding the area’s deteriorating infrastructure, transportation, and affordability, much of which revolves around climate change and its transformation of the region

Released last fall, the Regional Plan Association's (RPA) Fourth Plan includes 61 recommendations focused on improving and expanding the area’s deteriorating infrastructure, transportation, and affordability, much of which revolves around climate change and its transformation of the region. According to the report, more than one million people and 650,000 jobs are at risk of flooding due to rising sea levels. In the plan, the RPA ambitiously recommends that the New Jersey Meadowlands, 21,000 acres of low-lying wetlands, becomes a national park as a way to mitigate impacts of climate change. Designating the region’s largest wetland as a national park would restore the natural habits, protect nearby communities, and create a recreational space, becoming, the report says, a “Climate Change National Park.” The Meadowlands National Park would adapt and grow with climate change by drawing and redrawing the boundaries of the park as coastlines change.

By the end of this century, flooding a...