A public meeting notice issued last week appears to respond to complaints expressed this summer about the curtailed environmental review the NY State Department of Transportation had proposed for the reconstruction of West Street near the World Trade Center site.

Public interest and community groups and a several lower Manhattan elected officials have reservations about plans to build a hugely expensive tunnel for West Street in the World Trade Center site vicinity. In June, the state DOT proposed an environmental review that would examine only a "no build" option and the pricey tunnel.

The tunnel plan does not appear to significantly improve the downtown pedestrian environment, in part because it retains a significant roadway and busy traffic operations on the surface above the tunnel (see MTR #422). NYC government seems cool to the idea generally. It’s unclear why the state is pursuing the plan at all.

Last week’s public notice calls for a new public information session on November 19th, to consider "no build," tunnel and an "at grade alternative" that would appear to expand West Street near the World Trade Center from six to eight lanes. Without details, it is difficult to know whether the latter option would meet recent calls for a pedestrian-oriented boulevard design. The addition of traffic lanes may preclude that. It is also still unclear why a more open project scoping process, that could consider a much wider variety of options, is not being undertaken. Interested parties will raise these issues anew on the 19th (see Calendar for details).

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