From a submission to NYC’s 2020 Van Alen Design Competition:

Following the initial phase of approach and roadway construction, and simultaneous renovation of anchorages at both sides, the bridge’s circulatory efficiency and connectivity to both boroughs is massively increased. Next, the very nature of the bridge begins to change. Gas-powered auto traffic is limited; outer lanes at both sides are given over to energy gathering systems, service zones and pipelines. Solar and photosynthetic bacteria arrays and banks of batteries are hoisted into the south bays; wind turbines and water catchment basins into the north. Energy-gathering pavement reaps electricity from foot traffic on the promenade, and floating docks at the shoreline harvest energy from waves and the play of people crossing above. Research facilities granted space on bridge and shoreline partner with local and international institutions, supporting study of the air and water, the movement of animals - all ecological systems touching and touched by the bridge. Visitors can descend the piers to observe the workings of a science residency at the Brooklyn side beach, community boat clubs launch regattas and divers tend oyster beds from the Manhattan side. Circuitry connects water and wind, people and the earth; electricity is gathered, stored, and released to the grid. Regular design competitions cyclically augment a robust and flexible infrastructural framework, deploying solutions for ecological monitoring, storm surge reduction, disaster preparedness and focused architectural insertions. Partnerships with dozens of local organizations and schools are leveraged; the bridge connects institutions and individuals, bodies of work and thought. By 2050, the bridge is no longer simply a means for crossing, imposed on the water and land, but an efficient, flexible, ever-changing carbon-neutral mover of people, an energy farm and bank, a data-rich resource for scientific study, and a source of dynamic, magical and unprecedented experiences, exploring and celebrating the ways in which a city, its people and its natural systems are bound.

with Bonnie-Kate Walker