New Sidewalks and Curbs Signal Some Semblance of Progress for East Houston Reconstruction Project
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Since East Houston roadwork is nowhere near completion, we must relish the baby steps, as it were, of forward progress. Indeed. The first real noticeable change in months is now palpable along the battered corridor. New sidewalks on the south side.
Over the last few weeks, contractors have poured new cement (i.e. “pigmented sidewalks”) and embedded granite curbs along the blocks between Forsyth and Orchard Streets. Some corners are even extended.
The block of pavement between Second Avenue and the Bowery was also reopened as “The NYC contractor is excavating and installing The final 48″ Trunk watermain,” according to the latest public advisory notice.
Don’t get your hopes up about this progress, though. A different agency will probably be back in short order to jackhammer the street and sidewalk, starting the process anew.
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Either way, the community was assured that the money pit capital works project would wrap during fall 2016. Just in time for the two-way protected bike lane on Chrystie Street. Already more than three years behind schedule, the end date was revised at least three times, most recently to October.
Digging up East Houston has been a decade in the making, end to end. What a joke.
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