One Parkway Now!

Problems With The Tunnel Proposed by NYSDOT

• NYSDOT’s urgency to hurry-up-and-build this ill-conceived tunnel stems from a potential maintenance nightmare of their own making: Existing bridge decks are 20 years past their “expected 40-year service life.” Beam girder ends in the bridges have lost as much as 64% of their cross-sections. (both facts from page 22 of the DDR/EAEA Environmental Assessment). Extensive areas of rusted rebar are showing through the concrete retaining walls along most of the depressed expressway. Don’t let NYSDOT rush this once in a lifetime opportunity for East Side residents because of their mistakes.
• The current NYSDOT proposal keeps the truck and car exhaust flowing into the community like it has for decades, and actually makes conditions worse at each end.
• A number of schools and community spaces are downwind of the tunnel truck and car exhaust “plumes” (as NYSDOT refers to them – extending 300 meters (985 feet) from the ends of the tunnel). This is unsafe for children at the Hamlin Park School #74, the Boys and Girls Club Masten Club House, and the Charles Drew Science Magnet School. This is unsafe for visitors to the Buffalo Museum of Science and for residents attending events in MLK Park.
• NYSDOT truck and car exhaust mitigation solution is not adequate:
  • Greenspace and tree-planting to absorb pollutants – while nice, what about in late fall, winter, and spring when trees have no leaves to absorb pollutants? What about the winter when colder air and exhaust stays closer to the ground and doesn’t dissipate?
  • SmogStop Technology – The technology uses a photocatalytic coating to breakdown “NOX (Nitrogen Oxides) and VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) into harmless gases and water, powered purely by sunlight.” That’s great but how much sunlight is in a tunnel?
  • Controlling Dust – The NYSDOT states that: “A washing schedule for the tunnel would be implemented to remove dust, reducing dust resuspension by traffic.” When the NYSDOT was asked about this schedule – their reply was: “once a year”.
• The NYSDOT’s Draft Environmental Assessment (September 12, 2023) – Appendix D5 “Asbestos-Containing Materials Reports” Page 6 States: “there is approximately 234,486 square feet of inaccessible/assumed ACM (Asbestos Containing Material) associated with the back side of the abutments and retaining walls, counterforts, and top of footer piles throughout the project corridor.” The walls will be taken down and the asbestos will be exposed.
• The NYSDOT Tunnel will never connect Delaware and MLK Parks. This connection was at the core of Olmsted’s vision and work, and the community’s desire to once again reconnect the parks.
• There will never be a Phase 2 (Scajaquada Parkway) or connecting the parkways gap – It’s now or never – as NYS will be in a financial deficit starting in 2024 ($9.1 Billion), 2025 ($19.1 Billion), 2026 ($13.4 Billion), equaling $36 BILLION over three years.
• The NYSDOT Tunnel leaves out the Fruit Belt community.
• The NYSDOT Tunnel does not support the State’s East Side Avenues Initiative to rebuild the business districts to create generational wealth in the community.
• The NYSDOT Tunnel will violate the State’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) to reduce greenhouse gases (including those created by trucks and car exhaust) by 40% by 2030. The NYSDOT solution states the project will reduce emissions by only 0.04% overall, and particulate (PM2.5) emissions will actually increase by 6% at the Tunnel portal ends.
• By now, Community Benefit Agreements (CBAs) should have been put on the table to ensure residents were the primary recipients of public and private investment as a result of this project – particularly to combat gentrification and displacement. One Parkway Now! would bring that discussion to the forefront.
• Due to these observations and concerns, the Community demands an Environmental Impact StatementEnvironmental Impact Statement An environmental impact statement (EIS), under United States environmental law, is a document required by the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for certain actions "significantly affecting the quality of the human environment".[1] An EIS is a tool for decision making. It describes the positive and negative environmental effects of a proposed action, and it usually also lists one or more alternative actions that may be chosen instead of the action described in the EIS. (Wikipedia) (EISEnvironmental Impact Statement An environmental impact statement (EIS), under United States environmental law, is a document required by the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for certain actions "significantly affecting the quality of the human environment".[1] An EIS is a tool for decision making. It describes the positive and negative environmental effects of a proposed action, and it usually also lists one or more alternative actions that may be chosen instead of the action described in the EIS. (Wikipedia)) Review for this project.