Death of the First Roosevelt Island Tram
Historic Preservation Failure
The first Roosevelt Island Tram made it’s last run across the East River, ten years ago this March. Its replacement is safer and more reliable, but discovered by tourists, it’s not as special.
By David Stone
The first Roosevelt Island Tram lifts off across the East River. Fine Art Photography Print by Deborah Julian ($28) © All rights reserved.
Breakdowns, one forcing high risk rescues, doomed the old Tram. Its big flaw? Out of date technology.
Built in 1976 as the original commuter tram in the U.S., it relied on an integrated pulley system. Cables linked the cabins. More importantly, both had to move at once. Partial shutdowns were impossible.
The answer? Full replacement, cabins, cables and all. That opened in 2010. RIOC crowded the maiden voyage across the East River with politicians eager for credit. A band played, but it wasn’t the same.
Take a ride with me in the final days of the first Roosevelt Island Tram…
In the decade since, the universe discovered the Tram. Safer, reliable service draws tourists, but we lost the intimacy of a ride home with neighbors.
After 33 years, the original Tram cabins went out of service as did the gears and cables they relied on. But what became of them?
RIOC preserved the historic relics.
But although RIOC invests millions in the permanently unusable Smallpox Hospital, the old cabins collect dust. And neglect in a cage behind the Motorgate atrium.
Proposals for reviving them has come from artists at RIVAA as well as the Roosevelt Island Historical Society. But RIOC has not budged, and nothing suggests a change.
RIOC’s priorities for preservation are baffling. Blackwell House closed, three years after restoration was announced. Ribbon cuttings also pushed back and no end in sight.
The Smallpox Hospital, treasured for its links to James Renwick, is a money pit, and the Lighthouse is never quite finished.
The legacy Roosevelt Island Tram cabins? Just an embarrassment of neglect.
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Unequal Bargains
On June 18, the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation’s Real Estate Development Advisory Committee gathered to discuss ground leases, the master retail lease, and the ten additional years being offered under the Island’s master lease. Howard L. Polivy, the committee’s chair, opened the meeting as a longtime host shows guests through a familiar house, pointing out the furniture as if it had never moved an inch.
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