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Grand Central Terminal Park Avenue Viaduct
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Viaduct crossing 42nd Street, looking south along Park Ave.
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| Location: | New York, New York |
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| Built: | 1903 |
| Architect: | Warren & Wetmore; Reed & Stem |
| Architectural style: | Beaux Arts |
| NRHP Reference#: | 83001726 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP: | August 11, 1983[1] |
| Designated NYCL: | September 23, 1980 |
The Grand Central Terminal Park Avenue Viaduct is a roadway that brings Park Avenue around Grand Central Terminal and the MetLife Building, the two buildings that interrupt Park Avenue's broad boulevard in the Manhattan borough of New York City. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, technically as a "boundary increase" to the Grand Central Terminal's prior listing, but carrying a separate reference number.[1]
The viaduct provides a pedestrian-, bicycle-, and bus-free express route for taxicabs and other automobile traffic that flies above congestion from 40th Street to 46th Street. From the south, the roadway begins at 40th Street. From 40th to 42nd street, the central roadway of Park Avenue rises to a T above 42nd Street, shading the busy 42nd Street entrance to Grand Central Terminal below. Meanwhile, side lanes of Park Avenue descend from 40th to end at 42nd Street. The elevated roadway then encircles the Grand Central Terminal. Traffic from the south is diverted to the right, around the east side of the station, and descends again through the Helmsley Building to Park Avenue at 46th Street north of the MetLife Building. Traffic coming from the north around the west side of the station is diverted south to 40th Street; barriers prevent traffic from recircling the station. The south end is fed by the Park Avenue Tunnel.
The viaduct was first proposed in 1916, and construction began in 1918[2] Work progressed rapidly despite the wartime difficulty in securing labor and material and the viaduct opened on April 16, 1919.[2][3] The original viaduct took two way traffic from Park Avenue at 40th Street and carried it around the west side of Grand Central Terminal, depositing it at the corner of Forty-Fifth Street and Vanderbilt Avenue.[2] A spur ran east along the rear of the terminal, providing parking space and an entrance to the Commodore Hotel.[2]
Shortly after completion, it was evident that additional measures were needed to prevent a traffic tie up at the north end of the newly completed pass.[2] New York Central engineers suggested a plan which proposed that Park Avenue be closed to all vehicular traffic at the 45th Street grade and traffic be carried around both sides of the terminal and deposited at Park Avenue and 46th Street.[2] The plan was approved by the Board of Estimate in January 1928, and construction complete by September of that year.[2]
The viaduct appears in numerous movies and television show episodes. For one example, Will Smith's character in the 2007 film I Am Legend is captured by a vampire's snare there.