East River Skyway Plan For NYC Aerial Tram System - Connecting Brooklyn, Queens, Roosevelt Island, Lower East Side & Midtown Manhattan

Citylab reports:

... The East River Skyway is a proposal for a multi-phase urban gondola to connect the growing residential and commercial corridors between Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. The proposal calls for an aerial transit system to be built out in stages, with the first line connecting the Lower East Side and Williamsburg. Subsequent lines might include a connection between Lower Manhattan, Dumbo, and Brooklyn Navy Yard, as well as a line threading between Midtown, Roosevelt Island, Long Island City, and Williamsburg.

The Skyway is the brainchild of Daniel Levy, president of CityRealty, an online real-estate company—though it is not his idea alone, of course. The Skyway builds off the successes of the Roosevelt Island Tram, which Creative Urban Projects president (and Gondola Project evangelist) Steven Dale describes in a release as "the most reliable piece of transportation in New York."....

Image From City Labs

Click here for the entire Citylab article and here for East River Skyway web site.

Reported July 2012 that LIC based Silvercup Studio's Alan Suna suggested extending the Roosevelt Island Tram to the Queens and in October 2013:

At the Forum For Urban Design Next New York held last spring, architects Claire Weisz, Mark Yoes and Jacob Dugopolski of WXY Architecture +Urban Design proposed:

Imagine new uninterrupted connections across the river, linking major destinations across the five boroughs.

First, we could extend the Roosevelt Island tram in both directions, creating a new link from Queens Plaza to Central Park. The tram could be a high-visibility attraction, steering tourists from Central Park to the museums and galleries of Long Island City. And it would serve commuters as an above-grade transit option with a fantastic view that links Queens Plaza with Midtown Manhattan or the new Roosevelt Island campus and innovation hub....

The 2010 Roosevelt Island Tram Modernization Project cost about $25 million. No word on the estimated costs of the East River Skyway but Citylab adds:

... "Running subway lines under a city can cost about $400 million per mile," said Michael McDaniel, a designer with the firm looking to bring the gondola to Austin, in an interview with Marketplace. "Light rails systems run about $36 million per mile. But the aerial ropeways required to run gondolas cost just $3 million to $12 million to install per mile."...

I think Jerry Seinfeld



would be thrilled at the idea.

What about you?

UPDATE 9/17 - More on the East River Gondola from WPIX Channel 11