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Coney Island’s Iconic Wooden Boardwalk To Be Replaced With Recycled Plastic
By Ell Ko, 01 Dec 2021
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Image ID 37808238 © Heritage Pictures | Dreamstime.com
Coney Island, New York, is about to get a drastic makeover: The iconic wooden boardwalk is planned to be retired. Its successor? A recycled plastic decking.
In a press release by the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, it was announced that Mayor Bill de Blasio had allocated US$114.5 million for the reconstruction of the 2.5-mile Riegelmann Boardwalk, marking its first redesign since it was first built in the 1920s.
NYC Parks Commissioner Gabrielle Fialkoff described it as “a more resilient, sustainable boardwalk,” which will serve to protect “the people and businesses that rely on it as part of their livelihood and lifestyle.”
Currently, the planks on the Riegelmann Boardwalk are made from ipê, a Brazilian tree that boasts heavy durability and is resistant to rot. However, its sourcing has contributed to devastating deforestation of the Amazon.
The plan, as stated in the announcement, is to reconstruct the boardwalk in phases with “new piles and resilient materials.” When completed, the new structure will have new concrete elements, railings, and furnishings alongside the new decking.
Additionally, the Parks Department later confirmed to the Gothamist that all of the boardwalk’s wood planks will be replaced with a “synthetic material.”
The news outlet noted that in a presentation on removing wood on Brighton Beach, the Department noted that recycled plastic would “provide similar aesthetic standards to wood with a much higher life cycle than the wood options,” which signals its appeal as a replacement to the dilapidated stretches of old wood.
With the considerable change of something so iconic and classic, some qualms are bound to emerge. One dissatisfied party is Coney Island Council Member Mark Treyger, who stated that he’d requested the de Blasio administration to look toward sourcing more sustainable hardwood from a different source. However, this was “brushed off.”
“The de Blasio administration has said that no supply exists, but we found out later that was not the case,” Treyger told the Gothamist. “I don’t think it’s contradictory to push for resiliency and the historic nature of the boardwalk.”
[via the Gothamist, image via ID 37808238 © Heritage Pictures | Dreamstime.com]
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