APPROACH

In planning its streets and neighborhoods, New York has relied heavily upon the automobile for determining how to move people throughout its five boroughs. The perceived convenience and ease of operation afforded by the automobile has driven roughshod over community, environmental, historical, and cultural precedents in the city, which came at the expense of alternative, low-occupancy modes of transportation. Our cities have been carved up by the demands of the automobile.
Reintroducing the bicycle as a main mode of personal transportation can address these problems. By reclaiming a percentage of the massive infrastructure dedicated to the automobile we can re-stitch Redhook back together as a community and into the large community of New York City. Using dedicated bicycle lanes as the vehicle, we can stretch literal and metaphoric ‘green fingers’ through Redhook and out to the wider community.
The Red Hook Bicycle Competition provides the opportunity to introduce such a plan. Our approach to this competition has been to think of the multitude of components necessary to create a sea-change for bicycles in the neighborhood. Naming our project Bikescape speaks to this strategy; the landscape of the city being transformed to reintroduce the bicycle as a viable transportation and cultural alternative to the automobile. As a centre for all cycle related activities (recreational, commuter, sport, extreme, design, retail) the Bikescape becomes the epicenter for cycling related activities not just in Redhook but in all of New York City. We imagine commuter cyclists, extreme BXM events, track racing, toddlers learning to ride, bicycle designers, retailers and renters all mixing in a vibrant area. Our Bikewheel provides safe, easily accessible cycle storage for commuters and all cyclists available by the hours, day, week and month. Its iconic form and scale demand attention be paid to the changes occurring to Redhook catalyzed by the humble cycle.

BIKESCAPE PROPOSAL

Bikescape entails three main components:
1. A new master plan for cycling lanes in and around the surrounding urban landscape of Red Hook.
2. A focus for bicycle activity, complete with cycling, off-road areas, a velodrome track, and integrated retail/business locations.
3. An icon which signifies Redhook as a bicycle destination and as a storage facility for over 100 bicycles in the area.
These three components function as one comprehensive approach toward the practical problems facing urban transportation visually and financially promoting each other

FUNDING

The rental of storage pods on the Bikewheel would be available by the hour, day, week and month. This source of income can provide some of the funding required for the project but we believe alternative funding sources would be required for capital investment.

SELF FUNDING OPTIONS

Benefactor funding
Naming rights for wheel (The British Airways London Eye is entirely privately funded)
We have identified multiple outside sources potential funding for the Redhook Bikescape:

FEDERAL FUNDING

National Highway System (NHS) Funds (Section 1006)
Surface Transportation Program (STP) Funds (Section 1007)
Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) Program Funds (Section 1008)
Federal Lands Highway Funds (Section 1032)
Scenic Byways Program Funds (Section 1047)
National Recreational Trails/Symms Act Funds (Section 1302)
Section 402 Funding
Federal Transit Funding Title III, Section 25 of ISTEA

STATE FUNDING

Other NYSDOT State funding for Traffic Safety & Maintenance
CHIPS (Consolidated Local, State, and Highway Improvement Program)
Port Authority of New York & New Jersey
New York State Thruway Authority
Oil Overcharge Funds (The League of American Wheelman)
Section 217 of the Federal-Aid Highway Program
Industrial Access Program (NYSDOT)

OTHER FUNDING

Transportation Path Program.
Land and Water Conservation Fund Program.
Lake Champlain/Connecticut River Watershed Partnership Program.
Conservation Fund/Dupont Greenway Grants. World Wildlife Fund Innovation Grants Program.
Rivers and Trails Conservation Assistance Program.
Walking Magazine Trail Restoration Funds.

SUMMATION

This competition provides an opportunity to boldly take a step in changing the way people view and use transportation in the city, while simultaneously connecting Redhook to the rest of New York City. By establishing a strong and clear icon for the neighborhood of Redhook and implementing an integral urban planning strategy, Bikescape will certainly serve as the impetus for a bicycle-friendly New York, and perhaps a springboard for other cities wishing for more bicycle-friendly communities.