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Holland Tunnel |
Direction: East/West
Western Terminus: New York-New Jersey border
Eastern Terminus: Canal Street in Manhattan
I-78 was proposed to run through Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx,
serving as a major highway in New York City. It would have entered New York from
New Jersey at the Holland Tunnel and then crossed Manhattan as a highway called
the Lower Manhattan Expressway. This highway would have ended at the
Williamsburg Bridge. On the other side of the bridge in Brooklyn, I-78 would
have been called the Bushwick Expressway. This section would have roughly
followed the route of Bushwick Avenue, North Conduit Avenue, and South Conduit
Avenue into Queens. At the Belt Parkway, the Bushwick Expressway would have
changed names to become the Nassau Expressway, running parallel to and just
south of the parkway in the vicinity of Kennedy Airport. East of the airport,
I-78 would have split off of the Nassau Expressway and ran north through Queens
as the Clearview Expressway. (The Nassau Expressway would have continued
southeast toward the Atlantic Beach Bridge as I-878.) The Clearview Expressway
would have led to the Throgs Neck Bridge. On the other side of the bridge in the
Bronx, I-78 would have ended at the Bruckner Interchange, where I-95, I-295,
I-278, I-678, and the Hutchinson Parkway all meet.
For all the plans that were made for I-78, very little was actually constructed.
I-78 enters New York through the Holland Tunnel and then immediately ends in
Manhattan. At the eastern terminus, there are five exits leading to different
roads in Manhattan. Two other sections of the proposed I-78 were costructed, but
they carry other designations. A portion of the Nassau Expressway in Queens was
constructed and is designated NY 878. The Clearview Expressway and the Throgs
Neck Bridge were built and carry the designation of I-295 from Hillside Avenue
(NY 25) in Queens to the Bruckner Interchange in the Bronx. The Williamsburg
Bridge was a pre-existing bridge from Manhattan to Brooklyn that would have been
incorporated into I-78. It currently exists with no numerical designation.
There are four other highways, I-278, I-478, I-678, and NY 878, which are
numbered as spurs of I-78. Since most of the proposed I-78 was never built, none
of these highways intersect the actual I-78, although they all would have I-78
had been built as planned.
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