Aerial view of West Side Highway (looking South), circa 1970.

After more than 20 years of planning and design efforts, the reconstruction of what was formerly known as the West Side Highway began. The project proposes to reconstruct State Route 9A from Battery Place to 59th Street along the western edge of Manhattan. This 5-mile section of roadway lies at the southern end of New York State Route 9A, which begins at the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel and extends northward for approximately 76 km (47.5 miles), until it merges with U.S. Route 9 in Peekskille, NY, in northern Westchester County. Commonly known as West Street, Eleventh Avenue, Twelfth Avenue, the West Side Highway, or the Miller Highway, this portion of State Route 9A plays a vital role in the regional transportation system of the New York metropolitan area.

Previously, this portion of Route 9A comprised the West Side Highway, an elevated limited access roadway originally constructed in the 1930s between the Battery and 72nd Street, and a service road and local service street beneath the elevated roadway terminating at 59th Street. After the collapse of a portion of the elevated roadway in the early 1970s, and in recognition of its overall deteriorated condition, the entire section of highway from the Battery to 59th Street was closed to traffic in 1974. The elevated structure was subsequently demolished in the late 1970s, and the existing at-grade roadway was repaved to serve as an interim roadway until a permanent replacement for the West Side Highway could be constructed.

A proposal originally conceived in the early 1970s for the construction of a six-to eight lane interstate freeway facility known as Westway, which would have been partly elevated and partly depressed below grade, was withdrawn in 1985. The Westway funds were redistributed to several transportation projects in the city of New York, one of which was for the reconstruction of the interim roadway and its improvement into a permanent facility. The primary purpose of the Route 9A reconstruction project is to address the numerous problems and deficiencies associated with the continued use of the interim roadway and to accommodate some of the traffic that was diverted to other streets in the area when the elevated roadway closed.

The Route 9A facility serves a variety of regional, arterial, and local transportation activities and needs. It is an important interconnection between the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, the Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) Drive and the East River Bridges via the Battery Park underpass, the Holland Tunnel, the Lincoln Tunnel, and the West Side Highway/Henry Hudson Parkway, which provides access to the George Washington Bridge, the Cross Bronx Expressway, and points north.

The roadway is a major north-south artery in Manhattan's street grid that serves through movements to and from the borough. It is also a local street that provides vehicular and pedestrian access to the activities, businesses, and residences that line its rightofway. The roadway also serves important intermodal functions by providing access to three Hudson River ferries, passenger liner terminals, excursion ships, and a heliport, and by serving as the terminus point for five crosstown bus lines.

The existing traffic volumes on the roadway reflect Route 9As importance in the region's transportation system. Route 9A serves regional, arterial, local, and intermodal transportation functions. Average daily two-way traffic volumes range from 69,000 to 81,000 vehicles. With the closure and demolition of the elevated West Side Highway, the New York City DOT estimates that as many as 10,000 vehicles per day have diverted to Manhattan's other north-south routes, further taxing the capacity of these already congested roadways.

At a number of the key intersections along existing Route 9A during peak travel hours, traffic volumes approach or exceed theoretical roadway capacity. At these times, vehicular travel speeds on several segments of the existing roadway have been observed to drop to less than 3 mph (normal walking speed). Clearly, the existing "interim" facility is in need of substantial improvement.

ENVIRONMENTAL AND DESIGN ISSUES AND CONSTRAINTS

In 1987, the city of New York and New York State established a joint West Side Task Force in an attempt to reach a consensus on what action should be taken to replace the deficient interim highway. The task force ultimately developed the concept of creating an at grade six-lane urban boulevard as the most appropriate solution to the identified problems. The primary goals, objectives, and design principles developed by the Task Force formed the basis for the subsequent Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and project planning and design phases of the Route 9A project.

The project encompassed the full gamut of issues and concerns associated with providing major improvements to an existing transportation facility in an established urban area.

Further Reading:
   Route 9 Reconstruction