To blow up the old Kosciuszko Bridge or not to blow up the old Kosciuszko Bridge, that is the question!
To blow up the old Kosciuszko Bridge or not to blow up the old Kosciuszko Bridge, that is the question! New York State via Governor Andrew Cuomo answers: yes. New York City via Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and local community advocates say: Hold on one minute: we’d like to be involved in this decision as it’s happening in our backyard.
The first time the community heard that the old bridge would go boom was when the governor announced it on TV. Up to then this community had some voice and participation in the matters of the Kosciuszko Bridge goings-on.
The old K-Bridge needs to disappear to make way for the second half of the replacement bridge. Governor Cuomo sees an implosion as the fastest way to accomplish this.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams thinks the governor should have been a little bit slower about breaking the news by first talking to the locals who would be affected by such a demolition. “The community at large and the local electeds should not find out from reading in the tabloids any new methods that are used that could potentially damage the climate cleanup that we have attempted to do in this community,” stated Adams.
“There was no mention of implosion, explosion or any other form of dynamiting the structure,” said Gerald Esposito, district manager of Community Board #1.
The plan is for a series of meticulously placed and timed small explosions in order to curb the environmental impact. Environmental impact is a sensitive subject on the Greenpoint border with Queens, as the Newtown Creek’s status as a superfund site combines with the several other industrial hazards that have plagued residents in the area.
The State offered up a 2013 RFP (request for proposal) that addressed the issue of explosives. It stated that the use of explosives would be allowed if the Design-Builder could obtain approval from “all of the federal, state, and local agencies having jurisdiction over the use of explosives in New York City.”
Adams insisted state officials meet with locals to discuss the demolition plan and answer questions. The governor’s spokesman, Jon Weinstein, said this was the intention but did not give a date for the meeting. The implosion date is currently and tentatively set for this June.
The Greenline 