CONTEMPORARY NY
West Side Highway 1933 New York Architecture Images- Gone

West Side Viaduct (Miller Highway)

architect

Public Works (Robert Moses)

location

West side

date

1933

style

Art Deco  

construction

Steel

type

Utility

images

West Side Highway 1933

 

Ceremony booklet from the May 24th 1929 Ground breaking at Canal St.
The booklet says that on May 2nd from 21 bids, the contract was awarded to James Stewart & Co to build the elevated highway from Canal St to 72nd St., 4 miles worth in the amount of $4,547,449.60
I wonder what the sixty cents was for...
According to another source;
The highway from West 72nd Street south to Chambers Street was constructed between 1927 and 1931. It was extended south from Chambers Street to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel approach between 1945 and 1948
Demolition of the elevated highway started in 1977- 4 years after a section collapsed under the weight of a cement truck, the demolition was completed in 1989.
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  THE ORIGINAL WEST SIDE HIGHWAY: For nearly five decades, the line of 
demarcation between the Hudson River shoreline and the interior of 
Manhattan was the elevated structure of the West Side Highway. The West 
Side Highway, originally designated NY 9A north of the Holland Tunnel 
and NY 27A south of the Holland Tunnel, was part of a limited-access, 
automobile-only system of parkways conceived by New York's master 
planner, Robert Moses. The original elevated highway from West 72nd 
Street south to Chambers Street was constructed between 1927 and 1931. 
It was extended south from Chambers Street to the Brooklyn-Battery 
Tunnel approach between 1945 and 1948.

When the highway, known officially as the Miller Elevated Highway 
(named after former Manhattan Borough President Julius Miller), was 
constructed, it was well suited to its purpose and location. Its 
elevated structure allowed trucks to travel between the piers to its 
west and the factories and warehouses to its east, while automobile 
traffic was unimpeded overhead.

To avoid buildings on either side, the highway was constructed with 
sharp curves and narrow entrance-exit ramps. The design of the highway, 
while inadequate for today's needs, was not an overriding concern at 
the time. Even on limited-access highways, speeds often did not exceed 
35 to 40 miles per hour. Indeed, one of the reasons that the highway 
was constructed was to afford motorists a scenic route from the Battery 
to Westchester County.

EARLY PLANS TO IMPROVE THE WEST SIDE HIGHWAY: The deterioration and 
obsolescence of the West Side Highway were recognized as early as 1957, 
when the first of six studies on improving the elevated road was 
published. By that time, traffic counts on the West Side Highway had 
already measured 140,000 vehicles per day (AADT). 

The initial 1957 study, which was conducted by the Triborough Bridge 
and Tunnel Authority (TBTA), called constructing three lanes in each 
direction throughout the length of the route, realigning the highway's 
sharp "reverse-S" curves, building new interchanges for the Holland 
Tunnel and Lincoln Tunnel approaches, and improving the exit ramps at 
West 23rd Street and West 59th Street. Completion of this $22 million 
project was scheduled for 1964.

A more ambitious reconstruction of the West Side Highway was 
recommended in a 1965 study, also conducted by the TBTA. The 
recommended improvements were stated as follows:

From the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel north to the Holland Tunnel, the 
existing six-lane elevated highway would have been refurbished. New 
direct access and exit ramps would have been constructed to the 
Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel (I-478), and to the proposed Lower Manhattan 
Expressway (I-78).

From the Holland Tunnel north to the Lincoln Tunnel, the elevated 
highway would have been refurbished, and widened from six to eight 
lanes. In the vicinity of West 23rd Street, the highway would have been 
realigned to eliminate the "reverse-S" curve. New direct access and 
exit ramps would have been constructed to the proposed Mid-Manhattan 
Expressway (I-495).

From the Lincoln Tunnel north to West 59th Street, the elevated highway 
would have been refurbished, and widened from six to ten lanes. In the 
vicinity of West 42nd Street and West 57th Street, the highway would 
have been realigned to eliminate the "reverse-S" curves.

North of West 59th Street, the refurbished elevated structure would 
have transitioned from the ten-lane, 5-5 alignment of the West Side 
Highway to the proposed 3-2-3 alignment of the upgraded Henry Hudson 
Parkway. A new exit would have been constructed at West 65th-West 66th 
Streets for the proposed Lincoln West development.

Throughout the entire length of the highway, 11-foot-wide lanes would 
have been provided. Left-hand exits would have been replaced with 
right-hand exits, and adequate acceleration-deceleration ramps would 
have been constructed.

After completion, access to the West Side Highway would have remained 
restricted to passenger cars. Trucks and buses would have used a 
widened West Street underneath the elevated highway. The $76 million 
widening project, originally scheduled for completion by 1972, was 
never constructed.

The sixth and final study, which was conducted in 1971 (the "Wateredge" 
plan), proposed constructing a replacement highway built on pilings and 
platforms in the area between the edge of land at the bulkhead line and 
the ends of the piers at the pierhead line. Moses, who built the 
original West Side Highway, was instrumental in developing plans for 
its replacement.

DETERIORATING BEYOND REPAIR: In its 1966 report Transportation 1985: A 
Regional Plan, the Tri-State Transportation Commission made the 
following recommendation for the West Side Highway:

Throughout New York City, as well as in certain other portions of the 
region, there is an urgent need to replace and reconstruct outmoded and 
worn-out facilities. The city is unique in its need for highway renewal 
as well as urban renewal, for it has many early facilities that have 
undergone long and heavy usage. The prime candidate for replacement is 
the West Side Highway, whose tortuous curves and constricting width are 
far below modern design standards required for better speeds and higher 
volumes. The changed face of the City's waterfront also provides the 
opportunity to coordinate this highway reconstruction with potentially 
new and more appropriate uses of adjacent land. In such a case, highway 
renewal coupled with new land uses provides an unparalleled opportunity 
for civic improvements.

The inadequacies of the West Side Highway had become more acute by the 
early 1970's. The narrow ramps, left-hand entrance-exit ramps, sharp 
curves, and a crumbling structure posed serious hazards. Because of 
these hazards, cars could not travel at the speeds common on other area 
highways. Furthermore, trucks were prohibited from using the highway 
due to the inadequate size, shape and strength of the ramps and 
elevated structure. As New York City entered fiscally dire straits, it 
became more difficult for the City simply to maintain the existing 
highway in its deteriorated condition.

Ralph Herman, frequent contributor to nycroads.com and 
misc.transport.road, added the following on the original West Side 
Highway:

The roadway was cobblestone... It was originally designed as a 
four-lane highway, and in later years was marked as a six-lane road. I 
remember around 1970, the roadway was reduced back to four lanes in the 
area of the hairpin curves, where the speed was reduced from 40 MPH to 
25 MPH.

It was a challenge to hold on to the steering wheel at 40 MPH with 
those cobblestones, and was extremely slick when wet. During heavy 
rainstorms, the tiny sewer gratings would clog up with road debris and 
silt, causing water to collect on the roadway at "low points" on the 
elevated structure. Because the curbing was so high, the water could 
get deep -- about a foot or so -- slowing traffic to a crawl. This was 
probably one of the few elevated roads that could be blocked due to 
flooding during a rainstorm! 

END OF THE HIGHWAY: On December 16, 1973, in the most ironic of 
circumstances, a cement truck that was traveling to make repairs on the 
West Side Highway caused a 60-foot section of the northbound roadway to 
collapse at Gansevoort Street. Immediately, the entire highway from the 
Battery north to West 46th Street was closed. Subsequent to the 
collapse and closure of this section, engineering inspections were made 
to determine if repairs could be made and this section could be 
reopened.

Analysis indicated that very extensive repairs would be required, which 
the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) declined to 
make because of its $88 million cost, and the fact that this repair 
would make no material improvements to the highway's capacity and 
safety characteristics. Not long thereafter, the NYCDOT closed the West 
Side Highway from West 46th Street north to West 57th Street. 

Soon after the collapse of the elevated highway, a temporary roadway 
was hastily constructed along West Street and 12th Avenue. For a 
quarter-century after the collapse, this temporary highway served as 
the primary north-south highway on the West Side of Manhattan. 
Demolition of the elevated roadway, which began in 1977, would not be 
completed until 1989. In the intervening years, the abandoned roadway 
found multiple uses as a very popular running and bicycling path, as 
well as a staging area for concerts. From nycroads.com contributor Jeff 
Saltzman:

The rotting hulk of the old highway was eventually torn down in stages, 
but the section stretching from the 40's to 57th Street lingered on for 
years. My friends and I took in many a pier concert from that highway. 
It was a great place to hang out and gave great views of the concerts 
below.

Special thanks to http://www.nycroads.com 

  THE BATTLE OVER WESTWAY: In 1978, newly elected Mayor Ed Koch also 
changed his mind, joining Governor Carey in his support of the Westway 
superhighway and Westway State Park. In August 1981, just as the Army 
Corps of Engineers were granted a dredging and landfill permit, 
President Ronald Reagan joined in his support of Westway, ceremonially 
cutting an $85 million check to state and city officials. However, 
transportation officials and fiscal conservatives at the Federal level 
joined in a loose alliance with bureaucrats and environmentalists to 
undermine Westway. 

The bipartisan agreement was reported in The New York Times as follows:

The agreement by the two Democratic leaders after ten years of 
wrangling between the city and state established the highway project as 
"the official policy" for the replacement of the West Side Highway 
between the Battery and West 42nd Street in Manhattan. The Westway is 
planned as a 4.2-mile roadway, sunken in some places and elevated in 
others, running along the Hudson River. It would be surrounded by 93 
acres of parkland and 110 acres of landfill for future residential and 
commercial development. The cost would be more than $2.3 billion (in 
1981 dollars).

In 1982, Judge Thomas Griesa of U.S. District Court blocked the 1981 
landfill permit, citing that the Corps of Engineers failed to assess 
the impact of the landfill on striped bass in the Hudson River. After 
three more years of delays and additional study, the Corps determined 
that at most, one-third of the striped bass in the Hudson would not 
survive the dredging and construction process. Still, Judge Griesa 
would not issue construction permits, citing that the evaluation 
procedures were inadequate. Governor Mario Cuomo, the third Governor to 
support Westway, vowed a swift repeal of the decision.

However, after a 14-year battle, opposition forces finally gained 
victory. On September 30, 1985, New York City leaders decided to 
abandon Westway, allocating 60 percent of the approximately $1.7 
billion in Federal Interstate funds to mass transit. The other 40 
percent (about $690 million) of Federal funds, plus an additional state 
and city share of $121 million, was to be allocated to the "West Side 
Highway Replacement Project." This $811 million cap was to include the 
entire replacement facility from Battery Place north to West 59th 
Street.

When the project was killed, The New York Times, historically a 
pro-highway voice during the Robert Moses era, had this to say about 
the demise of Westway:

Why did a project offering so much to so many finally fall as flat as 
the old elevated West Side Highway it was to replace? The answer is 
horror of the automobile.

notes

London Terrace Tatler - January 1933 Pg 5

Mayor O'Brien Opens New Highway Inaugurates Extension of West Side Viaduct

New York City formally opened the second section F, the new elevated highway running for Twenty-second to Thirty-eight Streets, with a dreary ceremony which represented also the first gesture of a public works nature for Mayor John P. O'Brien.

This second section, erected at a cost of approximately $2,450,000, is a saga of steel girders in five minutes and thirty cents by the average taxi meter. A drive up its smooth concrete roads affords both an expansive view of the Hudson River and a technical education in steamship lines and wharves.

For London Terrace residents the new extension, two minutes from the house, represents a savings of at least fifteen minutes, twenty-five cents by taxi, and a hazardous drive along Tenth Avenue.

There was little fanfare at the opening ceremony. The exercises were opened with an introductory address by Commissioner Warren Hubbard, followed by an encomiastic talk by Borough President Samuel Levy and finally by a speech on economies by Mayor O'Brien. The three public officials then congratulated each other on the highway as a piece of construction, as a thing of beauty and as an economic joy. It was announced at that time that $10,000,000 was cut off the original $25,000,000 estimate for the cost of the entire highway.

After the speeches, Mayor O'Brien cut the white tae with his little gold scissors and the highway was formally opened, wile the band of the Department of Public Works, dressed in festive blue and white, blew clarions and the steamboats on the river hooted their solemn approval.

"I am glad to be here," Mayor O'Brien shouted into the microphone, some of his remarks drowned by noises from the river, "because somehow with the theme of economy turning in the minds of public officials and with the watchword of economy and efficiency before us, we have the opportunity to see symbolized those very principles that mean so much to the city; especially the economy part of it -- notable in the $10,000,000 savings on this project, together with economy in time of erection and economy of inconvenience."

He linked his arm with Borough President Levy. "As Mayor of the City of New York," he punned. "I now officially open the second section of this express highway and express the hope that the whole projected highway will soon be consummated."

The ceremony was closed with a parade of official cars up the new extension to Thirty-eight Street. Mayor O'Brien leading the procession in his limousine.

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