New York boroughs voice concerns over proposed Kosciuszko Bridge implosion.
After Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the city would implode a section of the old Kosciuszko Bridge, several elected officials in Queens and Brooklyn, including Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, voiced concerns about the impact this implosion would have.
The main span will be dropped down and removed separately to avoid polluting Newtown Creek, according to the governor. The current Brooklyn and Queens approaches, which extend three quarters of a mile, will be imploded.
“Expeditious action should never trump public safety and health quality,” Adams said. “The community at large and the local elected officials should not find out from reading in the tabloids any new methods that could potentially damage the cleanup that we have attempted to do in this community and have worked so hard to accomplish. We already have a large concern around car pollution, and we don’t want to add to this issue by having particles pushed in the air due to this implosion. That is our call today to the governor’s office: Give us a clear understanding of the impact of using any form of implosion or explosion.”
Newtown Creek is considered a Superfund site by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which means it poses a risk to human health and the environment. The EPA has found that sediments in the creek and its tributaries are contaminated with a variety of pollutants, including pesticides, metals, polychlorinated biphenyls and volatile organic compounds.
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