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March 14, 2005
BUILD THE ARENA IN CONEY ISLAND
Olympic and Transporation expert Brian Hatch's overview on why Coney Island is a better site for a new Nets Arena than Prospect Heights/Atlantic Terminal:
Coney Island was designed from its very inception to handle large crowds, and is the best location for an arena.
Coney Island has superior transit infrastructure to Prospect Heights. While the Atlantic Avenue & Flatbush area has many subways, they are mid-line at this location. Platforms could repeatedly overflow before a train arrives in the course of traversing its cross-city route. At Coney Island, four lines terminate at the enormous Stillwell Avenue terminal, the largest subway station in the world. This configuration allows crowds to board up to eight waiting trains of the Brighton (Q), Culver (F), Sea Beach (N) and West End (D) lines. The Brighton express (B) and former Sea Beach express (old "NX") lines can also be extended to this terminal to increase service to six lines, and provide two express services to more distant points of the city.
Being a terminal station, trains can safely and efficiently depart as soon as they fill up, then get quickly replaced by waiting trains from the adjoining Coney Island yard, the largest in the system.
Unlike Prospect Heights, Coney Island has the Belt Parkway going right by the site, providing far superior vehicle access than the choked Atlantic and Flatbush intersection.
Posted by lumi at March 14, 2005 8:28 AM