Todd: Instead of destroying history, Erie, you should be trying to restore it. (2018_06_23 VDV#20d
Todd speaks to City Hall saying - "I'm pretty sure you had funding for the East Ave. Bridge - something you guys neglected. People Black, White, Hispanic - we all travel this..." While its "very important" to us, the #ErieViaduct is "not a big issue for those who live in Millcreek." This bridge "is a way for us to travel."
"Instead of destroying history, Erie, you should be trying to restore it - you should be around historical things - you don't destroy" them.
Kevin B.: People use this bridge to get back and forth to work, to visit family members, etc., etc. (2018_06_23 VDV#20c)
"We should keep this bridge alive" (2018_06_23 VDV#20b)
Morrocco delayed her quick walk over the #ErieViaduct to speak out in support of saving the bridge. Watch as a young man on a bike rides by with his child on the handle bars.
Darrell J says "they never asked me" about "knocking it down" (2018_06_23 VDV#20a)
6th Urban Expert says: THE FORWARD THINKING THING TO DO IS "SAVE THE VIADUCT"
Erie Times-News GUEST VIEWPOINT in support of saving the Viaduct written by Philip Langdon, June 25, 2018.
save the viaduct, serve the pedestrians & cyclists of erie
For well over a year, Erie officials have been intent on razing the McBride Viaduct — ridding the east side of a supposedly obsolete piece of the city’s industrial past. If the demolition takes place, I think it would be a mistake — an opportunity lost.
Throughout the U.S., cities are finding imaginative new uses for transportation components that have outlived their original purposes. In New York, a disused Manhattan rail freight line has been refashioned into the High Line, an elevated pedestrian concourse that draws crowds of people eager to walk above the city’s streets and savor the views. Similarly, the viaduct — rough though it now is — could have a future as a valuable urban amenity.
When I returned to Erie in April to talk about my book “Within Walking Distance: Creating Livable Communities for All” and to discuss how Erie could be made more walkable, I noticed bicyclists pedaling over the viaduct to get from one part of the east side to another. Pedestrians, too, use the 1,170-foot span — not in huge volume, but enough to indicate that the 80-year-old viaduct could have a productive second life.
Even in its current beat-up condition, eight years after it was closed to vehicular traffic, the viaduct offers a safer, more pleasant route than the nearby Bayfront Connector. When I met with a group of teenagers at the E.F. Smith Quality of Life Learning Center on East 19th Street, a girl told me that using the connector’s sidewalk — awfully close to fast-moving cars and trucks and their noxious exhaust — makes her feel dizzy.
The viaduct, on the other hand, offers her something of a refuge. “There are no cars with you,” the girl pointed out. “You can walk at your own pace.”
A walkable street and sidewalk network is crucial to the well-being of urban neighborhoods, and the viaduct provides one of the few walkable routes from the neighborhood around East 12th Street — north of the CSX railroad tracks — to the neighborhood around Buffalo Road. Quite a few low-income eastsiders don’t own cars, so they circulate on foot. People use the viaduct to go to school, workplaces, friends and other destinations. A few push shopping carts loaded with scrap metal across the viaduct to a recycling business by the tracks; it’s a source of income.
There has been talk in official circles that restoring the viaduct would cost close to $6 million. However, Erie CPR: Connect + Respect, a citizens group that advocates thoughtful urban design, has studied the project closely and concluded that rehabilitating the viaduct for pedestrians and cyclists — not for motor vehicles— would cost only about half that: $3 million, spread over five years.
The first year would be the most expensive, costing $1,35 million to stabilize the structure and make it immediately safe to use, says Adam J. Trott, an architect active in Erie CPR. Much of the money, the group says, might come from matching grants, fundraising and corporate naming opportunities.
The Erie Refocused comprehensive long-term plan prepared in 2016 by consultant Charles Buki argued that City Hall should not invest much money in the neighborhoods that have the weakest prospects for revival. I understand Buki’s point. But this perspective — that public dollars should be invested mainly in the areas that will do the most to make Erie fiscally stable — has to be balanced against social justice. Do not harm people and places that are in need.
I believe repairing the viaduct would not only help residents of the east side. It could also enhance the city as a whole. Imagine, for example, that the viaduct were made part of a citywide or countywide network of bike routes. In cities from Philadelphia to Portland, Oregon, bike commuting is rapidly growing. Interesting bike routes are in demand — for riding to work, riding for errands, and riding for pleasure.
Having ridden in the New York Five-Borough Bike Tour and other venues, I would bet my Bianchi that cyclists would get a kick out of the viaduct. It’s an overpass from which they could watch up to 700 trains a day. Viaduct users already enjoy looking down on operations in the huge scrapyard at its base. The grittiness of the viaduct’s setting is part of its appeal. Some call this roughness “authenticity.” People go out of their way to find it.
Rehabilitate the viaduct. Illuminate it. Use it. Celebrate it. That is the forward-looking thing to do.
Philip Langdon is the author of “Within Walking Distance: Creating Livable Communities for All” (Island Press) and other books about urban design. He grew up in Wesleyville and Erie and was keynote speaker in April for Preservation Erie’s Greater Erie Awards.
City Responds to Federal Civil Rights Complaint about #ErieViaduct
Almost five weeks after the May 21 due date, the City of Erie filed it's response to the Federal Complaint calling for a Viaduct Demolition Delay and the first Public Hearing on the flawed 2012-3 study by five traffic engineers.
The Erie Times-News reported today that the Complaint states that "razing the viaduct, at East 12th Street and East Avenue, would violate the civil rights of the plaintiffs under the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, U.S. Department of Transportation regulations, federal environmental justice provisions and the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which addresses citizenship rights and equal protection under the law." In response, the ETN reports that "the City wants viaduct lawsuit dismissed."
VDV#19 Trucker from Las Vegas walks his dog on the #ErieViaduct
This afternoon around 4pm, a trucker from Las Vegas, walked his 5-month-old dog, Rye, on the #ErieViaduct as he waited to unload on Friday, June 22, 2018.
ErieCPR's Janice Cole Announces Viaduct Family Fundraiser June 30
ErieCPR member Janice Cole announced today that a VIADUCT Family Fundraiser will be held on Saturday, June 30th from 11am to 1pm. The public is invited to the St. Nicholas Church Parking Lot at East 12th and East Ave. Everyone is invited to enjoy light refreshments, live music, make chalk drawings, blow bubbles, and play checkers. Pastor Luchetta Manus will read poems explaining “why the bridge should stay.” Musician Saint Stephen will liven the mood with adapted civil rights songs such as, “This Bridge is your bridge.” A printed, self-guided #ErieViaduct tour and orange wristband will be available for a donation. Funds collected will be deposited with the non-profit Erie Winds of Change (the 501c3 that is serving as fiscal agent for ErieCPR) to help cover the costs of gaining a Public Hearing and saving the Viaduct.
ErieCPR member John Henderson wants to keep the Viaduct for all kids “until they figure out safety on the highway” and commented, “the Viaduct Bridge needs to stay because it connects the minority community and the poor to the rest of the city.” ErieCPR member Cynthia Muhammad, founder of the Erie Metropolitan Black Pages, will discuss the deliberate disinvestment of the Eastside through the process of redlining. Muhammad says, “the City didn’t maintain the bridge” and asked “why is that? Is it because it’s on the Eastside?” In addition to the Erie Chapter of the NAACP, the African-American Concerned Clergy of Erie have joined ErieCPR’s call for a demolition delay and Public Hearing.
Early this year a New York Times reporter visited Erie and spoke with ErieCPR members as well as with Mayor Schember, his staff and with one of the Mayor’s key Transition Team Advisors. The New York Times quoted Mayor Schember’s Advisor’s support for demolition of the Viaduct and his comment that the Eastside was filled with “failing neighborhoods” with no one he would want to live next to. This Advisor’s views apparently guided the Mayor’s reversal of his previous statement that he would not to object to a Public Hearing.
Despite claims that the Viaduct is “beyond repair,” bridges in worse condition are regularly repaired. ErieCPR President, Architect Adam Trott has noted that that the Viaduct’s damaged concrete and rebar aren't significant structural issues, but are similar to an “unsightly surface rash.” Trott’s $1.35M proposal to stop the Viaduct’s deterioration includes: repairing the long-neglected and clogged storm drainage system; removing loose concrete and adding a protective seal to the scarred concrete; filling pot-holes on the deck and replacing joints between the decks. Refer to the website for more information: www.ErieViaduct.com
Contrary to misinformation from City Hall, there has never been a Public Hearing, the money is available to repair the bridge and the maintenance cost would be obtained by a non-profit organization under a P3 agreement with the City similar to the one currently used for Frontier Park (L.E.A.F.) # # #
