New York governor Andrew Cuomo and UK firm Buro Happold have revealed a masterplan to overhaul the state's Erie Canal with public parks, residential areas and commercial hubs.
The Reimagine the Canals Task Force Plan, unveiled this week at Cuomo's annual State of the State address, is a $300 million (£230 million) proposal to revitalise the man-made Erie Canal that crosses through the state.
Buro Happold Engineering has served as lead consultant for the project and produced the report, while New York landscape architecture firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates has provided conceptual designs.
Aspects include new outdoor recreation areas and commercial spaces to be built in several towns along the historic 350-mile (563-kilometre) waterway. Proposals for the project include canalside developments, such as this one for the town of Canastota
"When the Erie Canal was created in the 19th-century it set the state and the nation on a path to prosperity, and this year we will repurpose the canal to fit our state's 21st-century needs," said Cuomo.
"This bold and visionary plan to transform this historic waterway will build on the success of the Empire State Trail, grow tourism across Upstate New York, improve resilience of today's canal communities and ensure the economic sustainability of the waterway into the future."
The project aims to transform Erie Canal, which stretches from Albany, New York on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York on Lake Erie.
Comple...