Van Wyck Expressway

Van Wyck Expressway - In the 1940s, Moses proposed the construction of a system of highways that would traverse the New York City area.[24] The plan was to cost $800 million, and in 1945, the city agreed to pay $60 million of that cost.[25] Among them was the Van Wyck Expressway, which would stretch from New York (now John F. Kennedy) International Airport in the south to Queens Boulevard in the north.[24] The six-lane expressway was to be built along the path of what was then Van Wyck Boulevard.[26] The original street and the freeway were both named after former New York City Mayor Robert Anderson Van Wyck, but the pronunciation of "Wyck" was heavily disputed: depending on the person, "Wyck" could rhyme with either "lick" or "like".[27] In 1946, the city started evicting or relocating people who lived in the proposed expressway's right-of-way.[28] Ultimately, 263 households had to be relocated.[29] One 4-story apartment building, which housed 35 families, was placed on metal rollers and relocated away from the expressway's path. Normally, new houses would have been built for these families, but in this case, there was not enough land area to build individual homes for these families.[30]
The section of Van Wyck Expressway between Queens Boulevard and the airport opened in October 1950.[31] A northern extension to Grand Central Parkway was opened in 1953. This section of the expressway originally functioned as a connector between Grand Central and the airport.[32] In mid-1961, it was revealed that the Van Wyck Expressway would be extended northward to meet the Whitestone Expressway at NY 25A for the 1964 World's Fair.[19] Work on the Van Wyck Expressway Extension, as it was originally known, began in December 1961[33] and was completed by 1963.[23] The I-678 designation was extended southward over the Van Wyck Expressway to JFK Airport on January 1, 1970.[4]

Type

Street

Owning Organization

New York