Park Avenue Viaduct

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Park Avenue Viaduct
The viaduct crossing 42nd Street towards Grand Central Terminal
Location Park Avenue between East 40th and 46th Streets
Manhattan, New York City
Coordinates: 40°45′07″N 73°58′40″W / 40.75194°N 73.97778°W / 40.75194; -73.97778
Built 1919
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 Park Avenue Viaduct is a roadway in the Manhattan borough of New York City that carries Park Avenue from East 40th to 46th Streets around Grand Central Terminal and the MetLife Building then through the Helmsley Building; all three buildings lie across the line of the avenue.

The viaduct 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]

Description

The viaduct provides a pedestrian-, bicycle-, and bus-free express route for taxicabs and other automobile traffic from 40th Street to 46th Street. From the south, traffic from Park Avenue or the Park Avenue Tunnel enters a ramp which rises to a "T" above 42nd Street, over the street-level entrance to Grand Central Terminal below; side lanes of Park Avenue descend from 40th to end at 42nd Street. The elevated roadway then passes in front of Grand Central Terminal and around it to the east, passing the MetLife Building and descending again to ground level through the east portal in the Helmsley Building, arriving at 46th Street. Traffic coming from the north reverses this pattern: up a ramp through the Helmsley Building's west portal, past the MetLife Building, around the left to the front of Grand Central, and then to the right and down again to 40th Street, meeting side lanes coming from 42nd Street, where the viaduct connects to the Park Avenue Tunnel or to Park Avenue proper.

Plaque on the viaduct

History

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]

In popular culture

The viaduct appears in numerous movies and television show episodes:

  • Will Smith's character in the 2007 film I Am Legend is captured by a vampire's snare there.
  • Smith again, now a policeman, pursues a criminal by jumping off the viaduct in the 1997 film Men in Black.
  • It is also shown in the 2012 film The Avengers.

Gallery

  • Grand Central Terminal as seen from the viaduct

  • The western viaduct during "Summer Streets", temporarily closed to cars

  • The exit of the eastern viaduct through the Helmsley Building back to ground level

See also

References

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2008-04-15. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 "New Viaduct Thoroughfare Relieves Park Avenue Traffic Congestion; Result of Many Years' Work.". The New York Times. September 2, 1928. p. Real Estate, Page 123,. Retrieved 2009-06-21. 
  3. ↑ "Link Up Park Av. to Ease Congestion". The New York Times. April 17, 1919. Retrieved 2011-07-29. 

External links


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