Lower Manhattan Expressway
Encyclopedia
The Lower Manhattan Expressway (also known as the Canal Street Expressway or LOMEX) was a controversial plan for an expressway
Controlled-access highway
A controlled-access highway is a highway designed exclusively for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow and ingress/egress regulated...

 through lower Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

 originally conceived by Robert Moses
Robert Moses
Robert Moses was the "master builder" of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, Rockland County, and Westchester County, New York. As the shaper of a modern city, he is sometimes compared to Baron Haussmann of Second Empire Paris, and is one of the most polarizing figures in the history of...

 in 1941, but delayed until the early 1960s. It was to be a ten-lane elevated highway
Highway
A highway is any public road. In American English, the term is common and almost always designates major roads. In British English, the term designates any road open to the public. Any interconnected set of highways can be variously referred to as a "highway system", a "highway network", or a...

, stretching from the East River
East River
The East River is a tidal strait in New York City. It connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island from the island of Manhattan and the Bronx on the North American mainland...

 to the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...

, connecting the Holland Tunnel
Holland Tunnel
The Holland Tunnel is a highway tunnel under the Hudson River connecting the island of Manhattan in New York City with Jersey City, New Jersey at Interstate 78 on the mainland. Unusual for an American public works project, it is not named for a government official, politician, or local hero or...

 on the west side to the Williamsburg
Williamsburg Bridge
The Williamsburg Bridge is a suspension bridge in New York City across the East River connecting the Lower East Side of Manhattan at Delancey Street with the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn at Broadway near the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway...

 and Manhattan Bridge
Manhattan Bridge
The Manhattan Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the East River in New York City, connecting Lower Manhattan with Brooklyn . It was the last of the three suspension bridges built across the lower East River, following the Brooklyn and the Williamsburg bridges...

s to the east. By 1961, Moses had set in motion two immense federal initiatives, which would have leveled fourteen blocks along Broome Street in Little Italy
Little Italy, Manhattan
Little Italy is a neighborhood in lower Manhattan, New York City, once known for its large population of Italians. Today the neighborhood of Little Italy consists of Italian stores and restaurants.-Historical area:...

 and what is now SoHo
SoHo
SoHo is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City, notable for being the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, and also, more recently, for the wide variety of stores and shops ranging from trendy boutiques to outlets of upscale national and international chain stores...

. The highway would have required many historic structures to be condemned and destroyed, and would have displaced an estimated 1,972 families and 804 businesses.

Members of the affected communities, led by community activist Jane Jacobs
Jane Jacobs
Jane Jacobs, was an American-Canadian writer and activist with primary interest in communities and urban planning and decay. She is best known for The Death and Life of Great American Cities , a powerful critique of the urban renewal policies of the 1950s in the United States...

, banded together to fight the Expressway. They held rallies, staged demonstrations and attended hearings to block the project at every step of the process. On December 11, 1962, there was a stormy six-hour-long special executive session of the New York City Board of Estimate
New York City Board of Estimate
The New York City Board of Estimate was a governmental body in New York City, responsible for budget and land-use decisions. Under the charter of the newly amalgamated City of Greater New York the Board of Estimate and Apportionment was composed of eight ex officio members: the Mayor of New York...

 on the second floor of New York City Hall
New York City Hall
New York City Hall is located at the center of City Hall Park in the Civic Center area of Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA, between Broadway, Park Row, and Chambers Street. The building is the oldest City Hall in the United States that still houses its original governmental functions, such as...

, where city officials voted unanimously to block the planned expressway. Assemblyman Louis DeSalvio
Louis DeSalvio
Louis F. DeSalvio served in the New York State Assembly for over 38 continuous years, longer than all but one other member in the history of that body...

 said in a speech:
The final plan for the Expressway, which had been approved by the Board of Estimate on September 15, 1960, would have cost over $80,000,000, later rising to $100,000,000. Estimates published in the New York Times in 1962 showed that the $100 million cost would have been covered by $90 million from the Federal Government, $10 million from the State of New York and $220,000 in City funds. The expressway would have been mostly elevated, with the spur to the Williamsburg Bridge
Williamsburg Bridge
The Williamsburg Bridge is a suspension bridge in New York City across the East River connecting the Lower East Side of Manhattan at Delancey Street with the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn at Broadway near the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway...

 mostly depressed, passing under Chrystie Street and the Chrystie Street Connection
Chrystie Street Connection
The Chrystie Street Connection is a major connecting line of the New York City Subway, and is one of the few connections between lines of the BMT and IND divisions...

 of the New York City Subway
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...

. The short section directly under Chrystie Street, with its south edge aligned with the north edge of Broome Street, was actually built; the low bid of $1,017,585 was accepted on January 26, 1961 for this 156-foot (48 m) section, and the road was completed in January 1964.

Many city planners now celebrate that this expressway was not built, citing the highly functional and exciting neighborhoods like SoHo
SoHo
SoHo is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City, notable for being the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, and also, more recently, for the wide variety of stores and shops ranging from trendy boutiques to outlets of upscale national and international chain stores...

 that would have been razed to build it. Jane Jacob's approach to city planning, cultivating neighborhoods and street-level interactions, has been widely accepted among city planners.

The route from the Holland Tunnel to the Williamsburg Bridge was planned as part of Interstate 78
Interstate 78
Interstate 78 is an Interstate Highway in the Northeast United States, running 144 miles from Interstate 81 northeast of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, through Allentown, Pennsylvania, and western and northern New Jersey to the Holland Tunnel and Lower Manhattan in New York City.I-78 is a major road...

, and the main line from the split to the Manhattan Bridge was to be Interstate 478, which was later assigned to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel
Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel
Interstate 478s entire length consists of the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel and its approaches. Its south end is at Interstate 278, and its north end is at NY 9A ....

.

Robert Moses planned to build other expressways through Manhattan, most of which were never constructed as planned. The Mid-Manhattan Expressway
Mid-Manhattan Expressway
The Mid-Manhattan Expressway was a planned but never built expressway that would have crossed Midtown Manhattan in the vicinity of 30th Street, connecting the Lincoln Tunnel between Manhattan and New Jersey to the Queens Midtown Tunnel between Manhattan and Long Island.- Initial proposals :Plans...

 would have been an elevated highway running above 30th Street. The Cross Harlem Expressway would have run at ground level at 125th Street
125th Street (Manhattan)
125th Street is a two-way street that runs east-west in the New York City borough of Manhattan, considered the "Main Street" of Harlem; It is also called Martin Luther King, Jr...

. The Trans-Manhattan Expressway
Trans-Manhattan Expressway
The Trans-Manhattan Expressway or George Washington Bridge Expressway is a highway in New York City that is part of the Interstate Highway System. Though few of the millions who use it or live near it have ever heard the name, it is probably one of the shortest, busiest, and most congested named...

, the only one of Moses' planned Manhattan expressways ever constructed, connected the George Washington Bridge
George Washington Bridge
The George Washington Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting the Washington Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City to Fort Lee, Bergen County, New Jersey. Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1/9 cross the river via the bridge. U.S...

 with Moses' Cross-Bronx Expressway
Cross-Bronx Expressway
The Cross Bronx Expressway is a major expressway in the New York City borough of the Bronx, conceived by Robert Moses and built between 1948 and 1972. It carries traffic on Interstate 95 through the city, and serves as a portion of Interstate 295 toward Long Island; a portion is also designated U.S...

 and was completed in 1962.

See also

  • Freeway and expressway revolts
    Freeway and expressway revolts
    Many freeway revolts took place in developed countries during the 1960s and 1970s, in response to plans for the construction of new freeways, a significant number of which were abandoned or significantly scaled back due to widespread public opposition; especially of those whose neighborhoods would...

  • Interstate 78
    Interstate 78
    Interstate 78 is an Interstate Highway in the Northeast United States, running 144 miles from Interstate 81 northeast of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, through Allentown, Pennsylvania, and western and northern New Jersey to the Holland Tunnel and Lower Manhattan in New York City.I-78 is a major road...

  • Nassau Expressway

Sources

  • State Presses City on Starting Lower Manhattan Expressway, The New York Times
    The New York Times
    The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

    , December 26, 1960, page 1.
  • City Link Gets Start, The New York Times
    The New York Times
    The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

    , January 27, 1961, page 13.
  • Verrazano Link Will Open on S.I., The New York Times
    The New York Times
    The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

    , January 27, 1964, page 25.

External links

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