The Mid-Manhattan Expressway was a planned (but never built) expressway which would have crossed Midtown Manhattan in the vicinity of 30th Street.
Initial Proposals
Plans were first proposed in 1937 for an expressway link crossing midtown Manhattan near 34th Street, then, as now, a heavily-traveled crosstown surface street. The original idea was a pair of two-laned tunnels, the Mid-Manhattan Expressway or M.M.E. (sometimes called the Mid-Manhattan Elevated Expressway) connecting the West Side Highway on Hudson River and the Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive on the East River.
By 1949, Robert Moses, New York City Parks Commissioner and Arterial Coordinator, proposed a six-lane elevated expressway along 30th Street. The expressway was to connect to the West Side Highway and the Lincoln Tunnel on the west side of Manhattan, and the Queens Midtown Tunnel and FDR Drive on the east side of the island. It would be constructed within a 100-foot-wide right-of-way immediately south of 30th Street. The viaduct would require substantial demolition of high-rise buildings within Midtown Manhattan. To cover the costs of construction, Moses suggested charging tolls on the new roadway, which was estimated to cost $26 million to construct plus another $23 million for the land needed for the project.”MID-CITY TOLL ROAD BACKED BY MOSES; Elevated Crosstown Highway at 30th Street Would Cost $26,000,000 to Build TOLL ROAD BACKED FOR MIDCITY AREA PROPOSED CROSSTOWN EXPRESSWAYS”, The New York Times, December 30, 1949. p. 1
A later proposal had the roadway situated ten stories above the most valuable real estate in the world. Air rights above the expressway would be sold and new high-rise buildings would be constructed above the expressway; buildings would be constructed below the viaduct as well.
One fanciful variation favored by then Mayor William O’Dwyer involved running the roadway through the Empire State Building itself, occupying the tenth and eleventh floors.
Plan of 1963
In 1963, plans for the expressway were finalized and it received the interstate designation Interstate 495.
Beginning from its elevated connections to NY 9A or the West Side Elevated Highway, the Mid-Manhattan Expressway would begin as a six-lane depressed roadway in the center of a widened 30th Street to Tenth Avenue.
At this point, it would swing to the north side of 30th Street to make connections between Tenth and Ninth Avenues, with the Lincoln Tunnel Third Tube Approaches.
Traveling east from this area, it would underpass Ninth Avenue, but rise so as to overpass Eighth Avenue and ultimately continue across Manhattan as an elevated structure.
In an area between Eight and Seventh Avenues, the roadway would recross 30th Street and occupy a 100 ft wide right-of-way immediately south of the thoroughfare.
From here it would travel east as a six-lane elevated expressway route, ten stories above the city streets to allow for commercial development both above and below the skyway deck.
After overpassing Second Avenue it would swing north to follow the 30th Street alignment as a four-lane elevated expressway route to connections with the East River or F.D.R. Drive.
Between First and Second Avenues, ramps would be constructed to provide access to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel.
Cancellation
In 1971, Governor of New York Nelson Rockefeller struck a huge blow. Because of rampant community opposition, and the disruption the expressway would cause, the Mid-Manhattan Expressway, along with about a dozen other highway plans, including “Interstate 78 Through New York City”, which another crosstown highway known as the Lower Manhattan Expressway (LOMEX) was part of, was officially cancelled and demapped.
References
External links
- NYC Roads Mid Manhattan Expressway
See also
- Interstate 495 (New York)
- New York State Route 495
- Route 495 (New Jersey)
- Cross-Bronx Expressway