Siberian Solution

Trolls' Paradise

We're agreed then. The solution to the BQE problem in Brooklyn is a new bridge carrying the roadway out over Gowanus Bay. Local traffic can use the existing travel lanes, which will be a lot easier to repair with so much less volume. But what kind of bridge?

Here's our first candidate. The Atlantic Road (right) in Norway, an 8.3 kilometer stretch that connects the island of Averøy with the mainland and Romsdalshalvøya. It hops from island to island with eight separate bridges. Looks like something out of J.R.R. Tolkein. Beautiful, but I don't think it can handle the volume of traffic our new BQE Bypass demands.

Don't try this in Red Hook!

For that, I'd suggest something on the order of the bridge over the Yenesei River in the Krasnoyarsk, Siberia (left). You may have seen it in the gorgeous photo in Friday's New York Times of a member of the amateur winter bathing club of Krasnoyarsk taking a dip in -15 degree temps. It's only 2.3 km long but you can easily image it stretching much farther as the need be. Built in the early part of the last century, it still works. The arches are high enough to allow for the New York Harbor traffic.

Krasnovark - City of Light

The slightly blurry photo from Kelly Paras's blog below gives an idea of what it would like at night. Yes, I think it will suit New York nicely. Now we just need a name. (I don't think "Kommunaly Bridge" will go over too well, even in New York, that hotbed of European Socialism.)