Legal Actions Announced Against the Proposed Billion Dollar Toxic Tunnel

On Thursday, June 13th, the East Side Parkways Coalition (ESP) held a press conference on one of the last remaining green swaths of Humboldt Parkway, just north of the Science Museum, at Humboldt Parkway and Northampton Street, announcing the filing of legal actions against the proposed billion dollar tunneling of a small section of the Kensington Expressway.

ESP is committed to restoring the Humboldt Parkway and is opposed to the recent actions taken by the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) to move forward with its plan to cover a portion of the Kensington Express way and create a 4,150-foot long tunnel between Sidney Street and Dodge Street. ESP has retained legal experts to challenge these actions and ensure that NYSDOT complies with all applicable state laws, as well as its own guidance.

ESP’s legal actions include claims that the tunnel violates the Public Trust Doctrine and New York State’s Green Amendment. ESP demands full restoration of the original Humboldt Parkway design running from Delaware Park to Martin Luther King Jr. Park. Additionally, ESP is challenging NYSDOT’s determination under the New York State Environ-mental Quality Review Act that the Build Alternative will have no significant adverse environmental impacts. Given the size and scope of the project, the range of required mitigation, as well as the insufficiency of the environmental review that has been completed thus far, state law requires the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) before the project may proceed.

The East Side Parkways Coalition urges Governor Hochul and NYS Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes to take action and require NYSDOT to prepare a complete EIS to guarantee a full analysis of the environmental impacts of the project along with an analysis of alternatives including the removal of the Kensington Express-way and full restoration of Frederick Law Olmsted’s original Humboldt Parkway design.