AUTOMOBILE THROUGH-TRAFFIC
The successive steps in the formation of routes of automobile travel
within and through and near Bronx Park, largely controlled as they have
been by considerations entirely independent of the Botanical Garden,
and the interjection of the Botanical Garden into the area traversed
by or affected by these routes, have resulted in a situation quite
unprecedented, so far as we know, in any of the important botanical
gardens of the world.
Many of these botanical gardens are substantially self-contained, free
from intersecting through-routes of vehicular travel, and subject
to design and management for botanical garden purposes alone. Most
of them, like Kew, have no roads for public vehicular travel within
them at all. The Arnold Arboretum, more nearly comparable in size
with the New York Botanical Garden than is Kew, but because of its
confinement to woody plants presenting less administrative difficulties
in controlling public abuse of its collections than is the case where
more strictly garden-like elements are involved, has roads open to the
public in the daytime, but it is completely closed at night and up to
the present time the roads have not been open to automobiles.
In an area the size of the New York Botanical Garden, we believe that
automobile roads for circulation within the area are necessary and
desirable, although for the public benefit to be derived from the
Botanical Garden as such it is extremely desirable, as heretofore
indicated, that every possible care should be exercised to minimize the
danger and annoyance of frequent crossings at grade of these roads and
the main routes of circulation for people on foot.
But the successive and almost independent steps in the development of
the _main lines_ of _through-travel_ for automobiles in this part of
the Borough of the Bronx, have placed the Garden in the path of some of
the most important of these lines and thrown upon its roads a burden of
through-traffic which is already a very serious problem and bids fair
to become immensely worse.
The completion of Bronx River Parkway, debouching from the north into
what was evidently designed as a local loop road for circulation
wholly within what is now the Botanical Garden, taken in connection
with the prior opening of the Grand Concourse (laid out long after the
establishment of Bronx Park and the design of most of its roads), opens
through the Garden, on roads very ill adapted to the purpose, what
is plainly destined to be one of the most busily thronged automobile
thoroughfares leading in and out of Manhattan.
Both for the benefit of this through-traffic as such and for the
benefit of the Botanical Garden as such, a radical improvement in this
situation seems almost imperative. It is possible that the City may
find a way to open a new and more direct connection for this great
line of through-traffic independent of the Botanical Garden, between
the Grand Concourse near its present northern end and a point in the
southerly part of Bronx River Parkway north of the Garden. (See Map B.)
Also there is even more reason to hope for the contemplated connection
of Bronx River Parkway Drive with the northern end of Bronx Park East,
the complete opening and improvement of the latter to Pelham Parkway,
and its ultimate extension across Pelham Parkway into Boston Post Road.
Such by-passes, if provided, would greatly ease the situation, but even
so it would remain far from satisfactory.
Certainly if this is not done, and probably even if it is done, there
should ultimately be a shorter and less tortuous road, on good lines
and grades and of ample width, following as closely as practicable the
westerly boundary of the Botanical Garden and substantially independent
of all its routes of interior circulation, from Bronx River Parkway
Drive at a point north of the northwest corner of the Garden lands to
Southern Boulevard, which borders the southern part of the Garden on
the west, and connecting at grade, conveniently, with the roads which
cross into the Garden over the railroad at Woodlawn Road, at Mosholu
Parkway and at Bedford Park Boulevard (200th Street).
Such a road or parkway for through-traffic, because of the necessity
for connecting with the bridges over the railroad, should be built
largely in heavy fill, on a broad embankment that would provide a
platform for a tall and dense border plantation serving ultimately
to screen from the landscape of the Botanical Garden not merely the
railroad but the very conspicuous miscellaneous buildings on the
higher ground to the west, far better than they can ever be screened
otherwise. And from such an embankment-road the throngs of people using
it would be able to overlook and enjoy in passing the neighboring
portions of the Garden without invading it or coming into conflict with
those who resort to the Garden primarily for its own sake.
As a matter of intelligent city planning we believe that ultimately a
branch of such a thoroughfare should be, and probably will be, provided
directly south near the railroad to Fordham Road along the edge of the
Fordham University property. We understand that this is now prohibited
by legislation secured in the supposed interests of Fordham University;
but looking to the remote future we cannot but believe that the time
will come when it will be to the interest of all concerned to complete
such a connection in a properly designed manner. This possibility
obviously reinforces the importance of such a through-traffic line as
we have suggested along the westerly boundary of the Garden, whether
the City does or does not open the independent connection between the
north end of the Grand Concourse and Bronx River Parkway.
There has long been an agitation for a street across the Bronx
valley from the end of Burke Avenue on the east to some point on
Webster Avenue. This proposal first took the form of a high-level
viaduct substantially on the north line of the Garden lands. This was
indefinitely postponed because of its excessive cost. The project
now comes up again in the form of a descending earth-fill embankment
from the end of Burke Avenue, crossing by bridges over the road which
connects the Garden with Bronx River Parkway, and over the Bronx River,
coming nearly down to the elevation of the meadow along the northerly
line of the Garden land at a point between the river and the railroad,
thence curving across the northwest corner of the Garden land and
rising on an embankment adjacent to the railroad so as to meet the
grade of the existing bridge over the railroad at the Woodlawn Road
Entrance. This latest proposition, besides being less costly, can
be made in its ultimate effect a much less conspicuous intrusion on
the landscape of the Garden than a high-level viaduct. Its immediate
effect would be very distressing through the substitution of high, raw
earth-banks where many well-grown trees now exist; but _if these banks
are liberally and skilfully graded and composed of material suitable
for the vigorous growth of permanent trees and underplanting_, and if
they are properly planted, they can be made in due time to furnish a
good enframement of the Garden, especially desirable on the railroad
side.
The portion of this embankment road which would parallel the railroad
from the north boundary of the Garden to the Woodlawn Road Entrance
bridge would coincide with the west-side through-travel route
previously discussed, and if the City undertakes the work it is highly
important for the Garden that the grading plans be worked out in such
a way that the slopes can be counted on as permanent, that trees can
be promptly planted on them and grown to maturity. It would be a shame
to permit the work to be done in such a way that after beginning by
the destruction of the now-existing trees it would leave the new
plantations subject to probable destruction by a future widening of the
embankment when the west-side through-route is opened.
South of the Woodlawn Road Entrance the construction of the west-side
through-route may be quite remote, but we believe it would be most
unwise to proceed except upon the assumption that it will ultimately
be constructed. Its precise location and grades and the eastern
limits of the regrading necessary in connection with it we have not
attempted to determine. Obviously the operation as a whole should be
so designed as to minimize the disturbance to the Garden to the utmost
degree consistent with securing (a) satisfactory grades, alignment
and width for the through-road, (b) the best possible permanent
bordering plantation for the landscapes of the Botanical Garden, and
(c) incidentally attractive park-like qualities for the enjoyment of
users of the through-road, including pleasant views over the Garden
while maintaining an effective barrier, for police purposes, between
this road and the interior of the Garden. Our impression is that a
continuous, dense, high, but narrow screen of trees and undergrowth
should be provided between the road and the railroad; that the slope
toward the Garden should be more openly and intermittently planted;
and that the permanent fence between the road and the Garden might
in many places take the form of a mere parapet supported by a high
retaining-wall so as to permit unobstructed views of the Garden without
facilitating trespass and at the same time minimize the encroachment of
the slope-grading on the present plantations of the Garden.
We assume, then, such a west-side through-traffic road, as a
fundamental part of a comprehensive plan for the Botanical Garden.
With this new through-traffic line and the complete improvement of
Bronx Park East, the interior roads can be wholly or almost wholly
relieved of the burden of through-traffic, and some of them could
advantageously be eliminated. One road in particular seems to us
unnecessary and undesirable under such conditions. This is the one
which extends past the easterly corner of the Museum and across the
Water Gardens. As long as it remains, it will offer a temptation to
high-speed through-travel by automobiles and motor cycles between the
Southern Boulevard Entrance and Bronx River Parkway. It will also
interpose a very objectionable traffic-line between the Museum, with
other features yet to be developed in its vicinity, and the entire area
of the Garden to the east of it. Incidentally it constitutes a strongly
marked line in the landscape composition, having a very awkward and
unpleasant relation to the orientation of the large and dominating
architectural mass of the Museum itself.
We are inclined to think that the steep road which now runs from
the hollow below the Iris Garden up over the ridge and down to the
junction of Southern Boulevard and Pelham Parkway, could advantageously
be eliminated. To do so would certainly be advantageous to the great
majority of people who visit the Garden on foot, and would remove one
element of danger and complexity at the important traffic-junction
where it now makes a five-corner intersection. It would also facilitate
a more useful and more beautiful treatment of the Iris Garden unit
through which the road now runs.
On the other hand, certain additional road construction is necessary to
complete a satisfactory system of interior circulation for the Garden.
One such addition of unquestionable importance is a link across the
river somewhere south of the Gorge, so as to avoid the necessity
of going outside of the Garden enclosure into Pelham Parkway and
back again into the enclosure in passing between the southeasterly
and southwesterly parts of the land. In our opinion such a road and
bridge, while ultimately necessary, are far less urgent than many other
improvements. But it is extremely important to fix the precise location
and grades of such a future road because of its intimate relation to
the design of all the adjacent areas, within which improvements in
maintenance, in planting, in the path system, etc., are needed. These
should all be directed toward a well-studied landscape treatment into
which this road will fit perfectly whenever it is built. In other
words, the design of this road and bridge ought to be part of a design
for the permanent treatment of the two landscape units to the north of
it--namely the Hemlock Gorge unit and the suggested Landscape Garden
unit--and of the picnic grove unit to the south of it; and no permanent
improvements should be attempted in any of these areas until the plans
for all have been worked out with a considerable degree of finality.
Our present impression is that the best line for the road would be,
very roughly, as indicated on Map A. This shows alternative lines for
the easterly end of the road, choice between which can not be made
without working out the details with much care. In any case the road
ought not to be permitted to encroach upon the natural southern and
southeastern limits of the topographic unit suggested for development
as a Landscape Garden. And probably in any case an underpass should be
provided for a foot-path connecting that unit with the picnic grove
unit.
The proposal of a west-side parkway for through-traffic outlined
at the beginning of this portion of the Report, together with the
development of the vicinity of the Museum, discussed in the following
section, Part V, necessitates a revision of the vehicular approach
to the Museum and of the connection along its westerly side with the
roads in the Fruticetum. As to the latter connection, it would be
almost as undesirable to force vehicles, circulating within the Garden
between the vicinity of the Fruticetum and the vicinity of the Museum
and points further south, to go outside the Garden enclosure into the
contemplated through-travel road and back again, as it is to force
out into Pelham Parkway the vehicles that need to cross the Bronx
River in the southerly part of the Garden. And for reasons already
indicated we believe it would be far better to provide such an interior
circuit west of the Museum and the Water Gardens, even at the expense
of considerable local regrading and replanting, than to maintain
permanently the present road in the heart of the Garden northeast of
the Museum.
The location of the present east-and-west road south of the Museum
through the center of the valley which lies between the Museum and
the ridge northeast of Conservatory Range No. 1, and the concurrent
splitting of this valley into two halves of contrasting treatment--the
northeast half occupied on the Museum axis by a formal approach to the
Museum which begins abruptly in the very middle of the valley unit,
while the southwest half is treated as an open informal landscape--is
to us very distressing and esthetically self-contradictory. Some
permanent cross-connection for the interior circulation of vehicular
traffic somewhere between the Museum and Conservatory Range No. 1 seems
essential. The best place for it we are not yet sure of, because it
is involved with three other very perplexing problems which will be
discussed in the next section of the Report.
Briefly there seem to be four possible solutions: One would be to
leave the cross-road substantially where it is but to unify the valley
by applying the same kind of landscape treatment to both its halves;
either by extending a generally formal treatment southwesterly across
the valley from the Museum to the opposite ridge, this treatment being
traversed by the cross-road; or by curtailing the formal treatment to
the immediate vicinity of the Museum and leaving the entire heart of
the valley treated informally but still traversed by the cross-road. A
second would be to shift the cross-road much closer to the Museum and
leave the entire heart of the valley open for treatment as a single
unit, either informal or formal, but undivided by a road. A third
would accomplish a similar result by shifting the cross-road much
further from the Museum to a position fairly well up the slope on the
southwesterly side of the valley. A fourth would be to remove the road
entirely from the valley by resorting to the old road line just to the
northeast of Conservatory Range No. 1.
Upon the whole, as well as we can judge without working out thoroughly
the problems discussed in the next section of this Report, it would
seem that number three or number two of the above alternatives would
hold the best promise of first-rate ultimate results. These two are
roughly indicated as alternatives on Map A.
Under the circumstances, clearly, no considerable permanent changes
should be undertaken in the area between and surrounding the Museum and
Conservatory Range No. 1 until a satisfactory general plan for this
whole area has been worked out and agreed upon, unless they are such as
would surely fit in with any one of the above mentioned alternatives.
Only one other additional road for interior circulation has occurred to
us as at all desirable, and we are not yet entirely confident that it
is worth while. The road now under construction from the Rose Garden to
the Allerton Avenue Entrance is in part ugly and positively dangerous
in alignment and grade. The most objectionable points are where it
crosses the Lake Valley and near the undeveloped Arboretum Entrance. It
is apparently possible to lay out a substitute for this section of the
road on good lines and grades, by swinging off from this newly built
road at a depression southwest of the Propagating Houses, crossing by
an arch over the ravine east of the Lorillard Mansion and from there
to the Rose Garden following approximately the old Lorillard approach
road. In this position the road would overlook, without intruding upon,
the Landscape Garden discussed in Part III, Section 4, and would make
it possible to bypass or entirely to eliminate that section of the
newly constructed road which now injures by its embankment the Lake
Valley and which has the only steep and dangerous gradient and curve in
the Garden road-system.
There are various other adjustments of roads and road-junctions, mostly
of a minor sort but important in the aggregate, which ought to be made
in order to adapt what were designed as park drives for horse-drawn
vehicles to use as automobile roads in a botanical garden; but we will
here mention only one, the very confusing junction in the Fruticetum
north of the Water Gardens. This ought to be radically changed and
simplified for the convenience and safety of traffic, and we believe it
can at the same time be so handled in connection with the readjustment
of the Fruticetum planting as to improve the appearance of this part of
the Garden very materially.