
Most of the work won't be visible on street level for a while longer, but if the construction that started on August 1 is completed as expected than come January 2008 Houston St. between the Bowery and West St. won't be the same (it won't be that different either but what's a little hyperbole among friends). The Villager has a look at the $29.4 million dollars of work being put into effect:
-Sewer and water mains will be replaced.
-Left-turn bays will be added on westbound Houston onto Mercer, Broadway and W. Broadway as well as one on eastbound Houston onto Lafayette.
-A 5-foot-wide median at the Houston/Crosby intersection will be added.
-The sidewalk on the south side of Houston between W. Broadway and Sixth Avenue will be widened from 9 to 22 feet while the sidewalk from Sixth Ave. to Varick St. will be widened from 15 1/2 feet to 20 feet.
Gothamist is all for fixing things before they're embarrassingly broken, and the sidewalk on the south side of Houston probably should be expanded, but we wonder what kind of craziness this is going to cause over the next two and a half years, what with the dust and the rerouted traffic.





Damn! You complain like a little bitch!
hey, listen weiner - i don't know if you're from Iowa or something but Gothamist is right, Houston will never be the same. I grew up on Bleeker street and have seen Houston change, building by building, stone by stone. Not only will the renovations cause traffic and clean air problems but it will also finally define Houston Street as a street that has passed into the annuls of passe bullshit. What is one to do?
The empire state building was built in 15 months. Takes them over two f()cking years to fix four blocks of street.
I could care less how the Bowery intersects with Houston, because I won't be walking there much anyway. That whole neighborhood has had most of its soul and character sucked out years ago.
what is it with people and their fear of any kind of change? do you really expect every neighborhood in the city to remain static for the rest of your lifetime? whether you like how a neighborhood is changing or not, isn't it unrealistic to expect it to remain the same. the neighborhood you love today was not the same 20 years ago. and i bet that people who have been there since then resent the changes that made you love it in the first place