They Did It So I Don't Have To

Corner of 32 Ave. & 62 St.

Urban walkistas David Kennedy Cutler and Robert Hult hiked the BQE, or as close as they could come to its path on foot, over two days in February. You can follow their passage on the Walking the BQE Tumblr page--actually, 29 pages of clear but undistinguished digital photos, like the ones at right, with minimal commentary. There are also Google Sat images superimposed with a blue line to show their route, like the one below from the first stage of their odyssey (they started at the Queens end). And more than one "piss bottle."

The cumulative effect is depressing but far from enlightening. Haven't we known for a very long time the dehumanizing, depopulating, degrading, denaturalizing impact of inflicting a major artery through a vibrant city? Just ask the Plain People of Pawtucket (R.I.): It creates a wound that never fully stops bleeding.

Still, my hat is off to Cutler and Hult. Somebody had to do it. I'm just so glad it didn't have to be me.

Getting intimate with the BQE isn't easy