The Unchecked Spread of the Unloved Sidewalk Shed

Jan. 27, 2016 — When President Dwight Eisenhower proposed the interstate highway system back in the 1950s, he crowed that it would require enough concrete to make “six sidewalks to the moon.” Today, the unsightly, unloved New York City fixture known as the sidewalk shed is giving Ike’s interstates a run for their money.

There are now 9,000 sidewalk sheds in the city, according to the Department of Buildings, up from just 3,500 in 2003. That’s 1 million linear feet – or enough to encircle the island of Manhattan six times, as reported by Crain’s. Eat your heart out, Ike. Some sheds, which are supposed to be temporary, remain standing for a dozen years or more.

The proliferation of sidewalks sheds and scaffolding can be attributed to two factors: the current building boom; and a 1980 city law, passed in the wake of a lethal masonry collapse on upper Broadway, that requires regular facade inspections and repairs to all buildings over six stories tall. Since then the city council has added new provisions, giving rise to the $1 billion sidewalks shed, scaffolding and facade-repair industry.

Sidewalk sheds may be unloved – they take up sidewalk space, cut off light and hurt businesses – but the need for them was highlighted in December, when a large section of bricks came loose from an Upper East Side high rise and crashed to the street. No one was injured, and the sidewalk shed may have been a factor.

“New York is insatiable right now when it comes to sheds,” says George Mihalko, a shed equipment supplier in New Jersey. “I’ve never seen anything like it in 30 years.”