Entrepreneur Proposes Aerial Gondolas To Bridge Brooklyn & Manhattan
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A Brooklyn entrepreneur has an idea to reduce congestion between Brooklyn and Manhattan by using high-speed aerial cable cars or gondolas.
As WCBS 880's Marla Diamond reported, it's called the East River Skyway.
"The aerial gondola that would link Brooklyn and Queens to Manhattan," explained Dan Levy.
Entrepreneur Proposes Aerial Gondolas To Bridge Brooklyn & Manhattan
Levy, founder of the real estate website CityReality, has proposed a four-minute ride over the East River with spectacular views.
"It can be built quickly, relatively inexpensively," he said.
Inspired by a cable car ride on a recent ski trip, Levy said high-speed aerial cable cars would offer New Yorkers a fast, safe and environmentally friendly way to slash travel time, CBS 2's Elise Finch reported.
His three phase plan would start with cable cars that run between Williamsburg and Delancey Street in Manhattan. The skyway would then eventually expand to include locations in Brooklyn and Queens and two other Manhattan destinations, Finch reported.
"The concept of building another bridge or digging a subway tunnel, it's not gonna happen," he said. "We expect it to be a great addition to the skyline and be a really kind of cool feature just like the Roosevelt Island tram is."
Levy pitched the proposal to real estate executives at a conference in Brooklyn where the reaction was mixed, Diamond reported.
"I think it'd be great and it'd take some of the crowding away from the subway," said one man.
"I think it's all about design, because it's something that coud potentially be a visual blight on the waterfront," said another man.
"Transportation drives real estate, drives prices, drives new neighborhoods, new development and new economic activity," said Massey Knakal Real Estate Services' Andrew Berry.
"We like that perspective of individuals really caring about how to make their city more green and more efficient," said Isaac Moskowitz, with Winchester Equities.
Brooklyn residents had similar mixed reactions to the proposal, Finch reported.
"It takes forever to move around by car and it's not very green anyway so it would be a much better alternative," said Marco Perry, of Cobble Hill.
"I'm one of the original artists in this neighborhood so I probably wouldn't want that," said DUMBO artist Tatyana Murray. "Because then a lot of the artists had to move out because of the rent increase."
"Anything to alleviate congestion, traffic," said commuter Sharon Patterson. "It's an alternative, why not?"
Levy's plan is to get private funding to build the skyway. It would take three to five years to build and cost between $200 and $400 million.
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