Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive

"East River Drive" redirects here. For East Drive in Central Park, see East Drive (Manhattan).

Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive marker

Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive
FDR Drive

Map of New York City with Franklin D. Roosevelt East River (FDR) Drive highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by NYSDOT and NYCDOT
Length: 9.44 mi[1] (15.19 km)
Existed: 1955[2] – present
History: Upgraded in 1966[2]
Restrictions: No commercial vehicles
Major junctions
South end: NY 9A in Battery Park
  Brooklyn Bridge in Two Bridges
RFK Bridge in East Harlem
Willis Avenue Bridge in East Harlem
North end: Harlem River Drive in East Harlem
Location
Counties: New York
Highway system

The FDR Drive (officially referred to as the Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive, and sometimes known as the FDR) is a 9.44-mile (15.19 km) freeway-standard parkway on the east side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It starts just north of the Battery Park Underpass at South and Broad Streets and runs along the entire length of the East River, from the Battery Park Underpass under Battery Park – north of which it is the South Street Viaduct – north to 125th Street / Robert F. Kennedy Bridge / Willis Avenue Bridge interchange, where it becomes the Harlem River Drive. All of the FDR Drive is designated New York State Route 907L (NY 907L), an unsigned reference route.

The highway is mostly three lanes in each direction, with the exception of a small section underneath the Brooklyn Bridge where it is one lane in each direction. A section near the Queensboro Bridge interchange (exit 12) is also narrowed to two lanes on the northbound side, and the southbound roadway south of the Brooklyn Bridge (exit 2) is marked as two lanes.

By law, the current weight limits on the FDR Drive from 23rd Street to the Harlem River Drive in both directions is posted 8,000 pounds (3,600 kg). Buses are not allowed to use the roadway north of 23rd Street, because of clearance and weight issues. All commercial vehicles (including trucks) are banned from all sections of the FDR Drive, except for a short section just north of the Battery Park Underpass where the northbound lanes temporarily merge with South Street.[3] The FDR Drive features a mix of below-grade, at-grade, and elevated sections, as well as three partially covered tunnels.

Route description

The East River Greenway runs below, beside or above the motor road from South Street to 34th Street and 60th Street to 124th Street. A plaque dedicating the East River Drive is visible on the southbound roadway before entering the Gracie Mansion tunnel at 90th Street.

Downtown

FDR Drive approaching Brooklyn Bridge

FDR Drive starts at the southern tip of Manhattan at South and Whitehall streets, and quickly becomes elevated until Gouverneur Slip, near the Manhattan Bridge interchange. This section is also known as the South Street Viaduct. From here, the road is at-grade, except for when it uses an underpass to dive below the Houston Street interchange.

On the southbound side, Exit 6, which served Alphabet City via East 15th Street, was temporarily closed after September 11, 2001, and was permanently removed in 2014 after the New York State Department of Transportation received notification from the New York City Police Department that the exit would not be re-opening for security reasons. The ramp passed through a ConEdison facility that was deemed a potential terrorist target.

Once past the 18th Street curve, it becomes elevated briefly until 25th Street in order to serve the 23rd Street interchange. After passing Waterside Plaza near 30th Street, the roadway again becomes elevated.

Midtown

The roadway quickly dips onto street level after passing the 42nd Street interchange, while the southbound roadway is inside a later structure resembling a tunnel while the northbound roadway appears to be on the outside of the tunnel. This section is often referred to as the United Nations Tunnel, even though the northbound roadway is barely under the structure. The United Nations Headquarters was constructed on a platform above the roadway from 42nd to 48th Streets.

Here, the road emerges and proceeds at-grade to 51st Street, where the road enters the Sutton Place Tunnel, which passes under apartment buildings on the east side of Sutton Place and York Avenue until 60th Street. In this unique tunnel, the southbound roadway is raised and runs over the northbound roadway for northbound access to and from the Queensboro Bridge interchange.

From 63rd to 68th Street, the Drive forms the eastern boundary of The Rockefeller University. Current plans call for the University to build a platform of buildings over the Drive, for which it owns the air rights. This would create another at-grade tunnel, similar to the section roadway that runs underneath the pilotis of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital from 68th to 71st Streets.

Uptown

FDR Drive at night

From 79th to 90th streets runs a final enclosed, at-grade portion; the southbound roadway is again raised over the northbound roadway in a short segment of the tunnel. The promenade of Carl Schurz Park was built over the highway, near Gracie Mansion. Except for a short elevation over the 96th Street interchange, the remaining portion of the roadway from this tunnel to the 125th Street interchange is at grade.

History

Looking north from 6th Street overpass

Originally named East River Drive, FDR Drive was later renamed after Franklin Delano Roosevelt.[4] The roadway was designed by Robert Moses. He faced the difficulties of building a parkway/boulevard combination along the East River while minimizing disruptions to residents. The section from 125th Street to 92nd Street is the original 1934 construction, while sections from 92nd Street down to Battery Park (with the exception of a section from 42nd to 49th streets) were built as a boulevard, an arterial highway running at street level. Future reconstruction designs from 1948 to 1966 converted FDR Drive into the full parkway that is in use today.[5]

The section of highway from 23rd Street to 34th Street was built on wartime rubble dumped by cargo ships returning from Bristol, England, during World War II. The German Luftwaffe bombed Bristol heavily. After delivering war supplies to the British, the ships' crews loaded rubble onto the ships for ballast, then sailed back to New York, where construction crews made use of it.[6]

Exit 6, at 15th Street, has been closed since the September 11, 2001 attacks. This is because it is located near a Con Edison substation, which handles most of the electricity for lower Manhattan. City and ConEd officials believed it was too risky to allow such easy access to such a critical piece of infrastructure, and there are no plans to reopen it.[7]

Exit list

The entire route is in the New York City borough of Manhattan (New York County).

Locationmi[1][8]kmExitDestinationsNotes
Battery Park City0.000.00 NY 9A north (West Street) to Hugh L. Carey Tunnel / I-278Continuation beyond Battery Park
Battery Park0.10–
0.50
0.16–
0.80
Battery Park Underpass
Financial District0.600.971South Street Battery Park, Staten Island FerryNo southbound entrance
Two Bridges1.10–
1.60
1.77–
2.57
2Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Civic Center
2.303.703South Street Manhattan BridgeSouthbound exit and northbound entrance
Lower East Side2.604.184Grand Street Williamsburg BridgeSouthbound exit and entrance
3.034.885Houston Street Holland Tunnel, Williamsburg Bridge
East Village3.705.956East 15th StreetClosed since September 11, 2001[7]
Peter Cooper Village3.70–
4.30
5.95–
6.92
7East 20th Street / East 23rd Street
Kips Bay4.407.08East 28th StreetSouthbound entrance only
Murray Hill5.058.138 East 34th Street to I-495 (Queens Midtown Tunnel)
4.507.249East 42nd StreetNorthbound exit only
Midtown East5.20–
5.50
8.37–
8.85
United Nations Tunnel under the UN Headquarters
5.609.0110East 49th StreetSouthbound exit and northbound entrance (from 1st Avenue)
Sutton Place5.809.3311East 53rd StreetSouthbound exit only
5.80–
6.10
9.33–
9.82
Tunnel under Sutton Place Apartments
Upper East Side6.14–
6.30
9.88–
10.14
12 East 61st Street to NY 25 east (Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge)Northbound exit and entrance (from 62nd Street)
East 63rd Street to NY 25 east (Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge)Southbound exit and entrance
6.50–
6.70
10.46–
10.78
Tunnel under NewYork–Presbyterian / Weill Cornell Medical Center / Hospital for Special Surgery
6.60–
6.80
10.62–
10.94
13East 71st StreetSouthbound exit and entrance (from 73rd Street)
7.0011.27East 79th StreetSouthbound entrance only
7.20–
7.60
11.59–
12.23
Tunnel under Carl Schurz Park
East Harlem7.80–
8.30
12.55–
13.36
14East 96th StreetAlso serves East 97th Street and York Avenue
8.7014.0015East 106th StreetSouthbound exit only
9.1014.6516East 116th StreetSouthbound exit and entrance
9.4415.1917 I-278 (Robert F. Kennedy Bridge) Bruckner Expressway, Grand Central ParkwayNorthbound entrance under construction
18 Willis Avenue Bridge to I-87 north (Major Deegan Expressway)Northbound exit only
Harlem River Drive north George Washington BridgeContinuation north
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
FDR Drive near the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "2007 Traffic Data Report for New York State" (PDF). New York State Department of Transportation. July 25, 2008. Retrieved July 17, 2009.
  2. 1 2 Anderson, Steve. "FDR Drive". NYCRoads. Retrieved January 19, 2012.
  3. "Parkway Truck Restrictions". New York City Department of Transportation. 2013. Retrieved June 23, 2013.
  4. "FDR Drive – Historical Sign". New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. December 20, 2001.
  5. "East River Park Highlights". New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.
  6. Pollak, Michael (June 26, 2009). "FYI Column". The New York Times. Retrieved June 28, 2009.
  7. 1 2 Siff, Andrew. "Since 2002, FDR Drive's Exit 6 Mysteriously Says "Closed"". WNBC. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
  8. Google (January 5, 2016). "FDR Drive" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved January 5, 2016.

External links

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