Staten Island Oddities

  Please find below a Staten Island Rapid Transit Map as of 1949 with the source sited.  Two branches were closed on March 31, 1953, namely the North Shore and South Beach Branches.  Parts of the North Shore branch are intact and there are proposals to resume some sort of service.  The South Beach branch is completely gone, with it's right of way filed in with new developments in many places.  Between South Beach and the Cedar Avenue former stations remains the Robin Road Trestle at St. Johns Avenue.  Please see pictures below.  The Robin Road Trestle is one of the last remaining artifacts of the South Beach Branch.  Why did it remain?  The New York City Transit Authority and The New York City Department of Transportation had a dispute regarding its removal and it has not been resolved.  Notice how close the trestle on the north side is to the new housing units.

The trestle can be seen almost touching the houses.

Please see a 1924 Aerial shot of the Robin Road Trestle.  The trestle is in the center of the shot.  You can see clearly the railroad right of way.

A more recent (2008) shot of the Robin Road Trestle.  Notice that the right of way north and south of the trestle has been filled in with houses.  North of the picture is Railway Avenue.

Below, a street level view of the area.

 

http://www.trolleybuses.net/nop/htm/usa_h_nop_tottenville_osgoodbradley_310_arthurkillrd_1922_ss.htm

http://www.trolleybuses.net/nop/nop.htm

  Since we are on the subject of Staten Island,  Staten Island was one of the earliest sites of experimentation wtih trolleybuses in New York City in the 1920's.  The dates for Staten Island trolleybuses is from October 8, 1921 to October 16, 1927.  More information can be obtained at the links above.  Though I cannot quote the source at this time, but in one edition of the Electric Railway Association Bulletin, it was decided to buy some trolleybuses for a few routes because the cost of running a trolleybus, was less at that time than running a gasoline bus.  Notice the interesting current collector at the top.  These trolleybuses were operated by the New York City Department of Plants and Structures.  Notice that the overhead hardware was different than what became standard later on.

Southern Staten Island Ice Cap Map Scenario

This map was constructed using the same shapefiles that were used  on the Red Hook Polar Ice Cap Map Melt map and the same precautions apply.  See previous Ice Cap Map Scenarios for details.  It seems that the major impact will be felt in the 2020's to 2050's, if this scenario is played out.  This is just an estimate.

Possible Flood Hazard Zones in 2020's, 2050's and 2080's Rapid Melt Scenarios for Staten Island

This Staten Island map was prepared using ARCGIS and was made possible from the shape file that is provided by the NYC Office of Long Term Planning.  The areas enclosed in the red polygons are those areas most likely to be flooded by 2080 if there is a continuous melt of the ice caps.  The yellow polygons enclose areas most likely to be flooded by 2050 while the green areas are most likely to be flooded by 2020.  You can see as far as the Staten Island Rapid Transit System is concerned, assuming the worst scenario, most of the system is safe except the northern portion near St. Geoge and the southern end.  Please see statement from agency that provided the shape files for this map.



Source:
This file contains 3 sets of shapefiles representing possible Flood Hazard Zone Areas in the 2020's, 2050's, and 2080's, based upon a rapid ice melt scenario. The NYC Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability (NYC OLTPS) and the City of New York assume no responsibility for the accuracy of this data or its suitability for any purposes. All users should independently verify the accuracy of the data for their purposes. This data on 1-in-100 year flood zones for New York City with Projected Sea Level Rise was produced by the Institute for Sustainable Cities, City University of New York for an analysis of large geographic areas only. 1. Methods and Caveat – The projected flood extents included in this data reflect a “bathtub” methodology whereby a flood elevation is extrapolated landward until it reaches the equivalent contour height on land. This approach does not account for cumulative effects of soils, vegetation, surface permeability, bathymetry, infrastructure and beach structures, friction, and other factors that affect the movement of floodwaters resulting in local variations in flooding extent. 2. Error – Numerous sources of potential error are present in the data. These include limitations of model input and scope (climate and FEMA floodplain models), error inherent in model output, errors in and coarseness of topography, the rounding of base flood elevations to the nearest foot, and in GIS technique. 3. Interpretation - The floodplains delineated in this data do not represent precise flood boundaries but rather illustrate two distinct areas of interest: A) areas that do not currently flood but are expected to potentially do so in the future and B) areas that do not currently flood and are unlikely to do so in the timeline of this research.

In the next map, I added the Hurricane zones where A is the most servere.  The 2080 senario is in cross hatch.  You can see for the St. George area, the projected flood zones for 2080 follows the Hurricane Zone pattern, but not exactly.

Theoretical Downflow Flow in "River Channel" in Southern Staten Island

In the attached map, I used the GRASS 6.4.1 hydrology program to construct the hypothetical river flow based on elevation for southern Staten Island.  I brought in the "Carve" program that used the Staten Island Rapid Transit right of way as a base.  The artificial channel follows the Staten Island Railway for a small section and then goes to along Seguine Avenue.  The narrow thin black bars is the theoretical water flow direction.  The program seems to have done this for even the higher elevations as well.  This is just an experiment and is not done by a professional environmental person.  The areas of interest, which is the flood channels along the SIRT and Seguine Avenue and vicinity is penciled in red.  Notice that the flood flow pattern for Seguine Avenue is from east to west and not north to south.  Since there are more flood flow bars on the Seguine Avenue than on the southern Staten Island RR right of way, I believe the Seguine Avenue corridor is a stronger flood flow victim than SIRT.  The SIRT flood flow is also from west to east.  Correction:  The GRASS 6.4.1 program here creates a vector showing downhill flow on the surface.  Since Hurricane Sandy was a sea surge event and not mainly a rain event, the flooding that occured was due to a sea surge and  a downhill water flow mapmay not explain that much, particularly any theoretical flooding along the right of way of the Staten Island Rapid Transit line and Seguine Avenue.  Notice that the flow along Seguine Avenue is west to east.

GRASS's 6.4.1 Prediction of River Channels in Southern Staten Island

  In the map below, I used GRASS 6.4.1  Hydrology Program and the "Carve" option to predict river channels based on street elevation.  Instead of using the input "river stream" I used the subway line shape file.  The results indicate that at the western end of the Staten Island Rapid Transit Railway, there was an image of a river channel from Tottenvile to around Richmond Valley Station.  In addition, there appears to be a low lying area along Seguine Avenue near Wolfe's Pond Park.   I highlighted the potential "stream" areas in red pencil and it would interesting if some reader(s) can tell me if the map was accurate in predicting actual flooding conditions.  May the residents effected have a speedy recovery from their many hardships connected with the storm.  Tramway Null(0).

  In the map below, I brought in the Hurricane Zone layer for zones A,B and C, where A is the zone in most danger of flooding.  It appears that the river channel program was accurate in predicting Zone A.  The GRASS 6.4.1 program does take into effect the elevations but the hydrology option sought of outlines where a river type of channel may be created and you can see this clearly on portion of the Staten Island Rapid Transit right of way and near Seguine Avenue.