Trans-Manhattan Expressway

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The Trans-Manhattan 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 busiest, most congested and shortest-distance named highways. It passes for barely a single mile across Manhattan at one of its narrowest points, crossing in a depressed channel through the Washington Heights neighborhood, connecting the George Washington Bridge with the Cross-Bronx Expressway by way of the Alexander Hamilton Bridge as it crosses the Harlem River. The expressway is designated as a portion of Interstate 95 and is often considered to be part of the Cross-Bronx Expressway.

The highway was originally planned as an open cut between 178th and 179th Streets, traversed by bridges carrying the major north-south streets in upper Manhattan. The 12-lane Trans-Manhattan Expressway, with three lanes of traffic heading in each direction to and from each deck of the George Washington Bridge, opened to traffic in 1962 as part of a $60 million program to improve access roads for the George Washington Bridge, whose lower deck opened that same year. The Trans-Manhattan Expressway provides access to and from the Henry Hudson Parkway and Riverside Drive on the West Side of Manhattan, and to Amsterdam Avenue and the Harlem River Drive on the East Side.

The expressway was one of the first to use air rights over a major highway. After completion of the expressway, the George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal and a series of four high-rise apartment buildings were built over the expressway. Local traffic reporters frequently refer to congestion under "The Apartments" during morning and evening rush hours.