For years now, residents in the Two Bridges area have been forced to endure ear-splitting noise and many other negative effects from the construction of Extell’s 80-story condo tower at 252 South St.
Now they’re also having to deal with another loud project: the scrubbing of the FDR Drive overpass at Pike Street. Trever Holland, tenant association president of Two Bridges Tower, recently fired off a letter to city officials about the situation. Here’s part of what he told representatives at the Department of Transportation and Department of Buildings:
Right now there is a machine underneath the FDR at South and Pike (State DOT), producing a non-stop, tortuous, drone noise at levels that require earplugs. This machine runs seven days a week from dusk till dawn. Extell is constructing its massive 80 story building along with a smaller building at Pike, South and Cherry St. EDC is working on Pier 35 and the waterfront esplanade on South St. DOT, Con-Ed and DEP (and other acronyms) are constantly digging up South, Pike, Rutgers and Cherry street on what seems like a weekly basis. Not to mention the planned Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency work, NYCHA’s Storm Resiliency projects and the five proposed mega-towers for this same two block area. We are calling for an IMMEDIATE suspension of all (after hours work) within this two block radius. We simply need a well-deserved break from this non-stop noise and disruption. There are children in this area who have never seen a peaceful weekend without construction trucks and personnel dominating the neighborhood. We are tired of trying to figure out which contractor is responsible for trash, noise, dangerous truck maneuvers, blocking sidewalks and a host of other SAFETY violations… What we are demanding is reasonable and fair. All (after hours work) should be suspended immediately until there is some sort of meeting to talk about coordination and our quality of life…
The project, overseen by the state Department of Transportation, will be impacting many additional residents. Over the next several weeks, contractors will be moving north in the direction of Montgomery Street.
As Holland mentioned, several large-scale projects have been proposed in the Two Bridges area, meaning that construction noise will likely be a fact of life in the neighborhood for years to come. This past month, Community Board 3 called on government officials to establish a construction command center to coordinate projects on the Lower East Side.
