Why does a city of roughly 100,000 people need a highway that's 11, 12 even 13 lanes across, when ramps and arterials are included?
ALBANY — For me, looking over the state Department of Transportation’s proposals for a remade Interstate 787 is a bit surreal.
I’ve been writing about the need to change the terrible highway for a long time, and for years the notion seemed like a pipe dream. So, it’s hard to believe the idea has come this far and the bandwagon is crowded enough for a state agency to take it seriously.
Related: The 8 ways the state could upgrade Interstate 787 in Albany
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I suppose the same is true for those of you who consider remaking 787 a folly. The state is really thinking about this? A new 787 might happen?
It might not, of course. Remaking the highway is still a long way from being realized, and the proposals released last week by the DOT are, in truth, little more than thought experiments designed to provoke a question: What do we want this region to be?
Are we happy with the status quo? With a massively overbuilt, ridiculously expensive highway dominating the Hudson riverfront? Or do we want something better?
Are we happy with Albany as it is? A city perhaps stuck in perpetual decline? Or do we want New York’s capital to begin to realize its potential? Shouldn’t we apply a proverbial defibrillator?
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To me, the answers are self-evident. I don’t get why someone would object to making Albany more attractive to newcomers and better for residents. I don’t understand why anyone would deny the region a project that promises so many economic and recreational benefits — including new tax revenue and added acreage for parks and development.
Waterfronts make cities. Go to any of the cities where people want to visit and you’ll almost certainly spend time near water. There’s no reason to consume Albany’s waterfront with such a ruinous tangle of waste.
The esteemed Paul Vandenburgh on WDGJ-1300AM has been talking about 787 on recent mornings. He remembers what the region was like before the highway, when the trip from Troy to Albany was a time-consuming crawl down a jammed Broadway.
Why, Vandenburgh asks, would anyone want to go back to that?
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I take his point. Nobody should want to go back to that — me especially, given that I drive on Broadway nearly every day. But nobody is talking about blowing up 787 and replacing it with a buggy path.
All of the DOT proposals keep most of the highway intact except through downtown Albany. Even there, they keep a multi-lane roadway running into the center of the city. The proposals might even improve traffic flow.
The most dramatic — and expensive — of the plans calls for a four-lane tunnel that follows the highway’s existing footprint with a boulevard above. That $7.4 billion proposal feels like a nonstarter, even for a columnist happy to entertain pipe dreams.
To me, the most sensible proposal is one that would convert 787 into a two-way boulevard with signaled intersections and a central median for easier passage on foot or bike. The plan would also lower the South Mall Expressway to street level at South Pearl Street and build a new Dunn Memorial Bridge south of its existing location.
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The cost? $3.5 billion.
That’s a staggering sum, for sure, but here’s the thing: The DOT says it would cost just as much to rehabilitate the existing infrastructure to ensure 787 remains viable. That highlights the ridiculous extravagance of the highway, with its soaring, spaghetti-noodle ramps and its concrete in the sky.
Why does a city with roughly 100,000 residents need a roadway that’s 11, 12 even 13 lanes across when you include ramps and arterials? This isn’t Los Angeles or Phoenix. In truth, Interstate 787 is an example of big-government profligacy and stupidity. It is wasteful and crazy. It’s gross.
Why would we choose to keep that when a more modest and less destructive highway will cost the same amount?
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If we’re so wedded to the status quo, then we’re keeping things the same just for the sake of keeping things the same. We’re stuck in our ways. We’ve given up. Hammer a few more nails into the municipal coffin and start digging.
Of course, cities all around the world have remade disastrous highways, proving it can be done without damaging traffic impacts. I don’t know why we couldn’t muster the same ambition. If we dared to build the highway decades ago, we should have the audacity to improve it now.
But that’s just my opinion, and, as you know, I’ve become comfortable on this bandwagon. We still need more riders, though.
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