REVIVE: INFRASTRUCTURE IN MANHATTANVILLE

Harlem Bespoke: With the closing of several businesses north of 125th Street on 12th Avenue, community leaders have been trying to come up with ideas on how to improve business in the area but have not touched upon the obvious issue which is transportation.  When the industrial area was built over a century ago, trolleys took everyone to area and which was even connected to the 130th Street Ferry Station that brought folks in from New Jersey and the neighborhood was pretty much connected to the surrounding blocks.

That would all change by the mid century when city planners would start dismantling the connective parts of the neighborhood.  Trolleys would be replaced by buses that had limited access to area by the end of the 1940s, then the ferry station would be dismantled by the 1960s along with many of the side streets east of Broadway which would be deconstructed to make way for housing project super blocks.  Somehow the main idea was that people would have cars in the future and that would be enough to sustain the area but that has since been proven a false hope.

The vast majority of city dwellers do not own an automobile and now the elevated 1 Station on Broadway is the only connecting point as far as public transportation goes.  This singular source is still quite a daunting walk to get to from the above businesses especially during difficult weather or late at night. There is an article in the Daily News that mentions that the MTA is looking into on-demand car and van service for some desolate parts of town and this could be an option for the future if enough attention has been placed upon the issue at hand.

Columbia University should also partner up with this program since the institution has razed a majority of the blocks in the past decade to build a new campus which in turn has prevented any improvement of foot traffic to the area.  Another idea is to get some sort of subway shuttle bus for the entire 12th Avenue strip since the Manhattanville Bust Depot is close by in the first place.  For more on the former Fort Lee Ferry Station in the neighborhood, check out our past post: LINK

HarlemBespoke.com 2020