It Happened Today in New York City

On July 15, 1933, the Grand Central Parkway opened in Queens. Part of Robert Moses’ elaborate network of roads, the parkway was planned to connect the Triborough Bridge (which would, itself, not open for another three years) to the Nassau County border. At its eastern end, Grand Central Parkway would become the Northern State Parkway proceeding through Long Island. This was a highly contentious and contested project that angered many of the well-to-do NIMBY Long Islanders who fought for years for rerouting and realigning that would remove the parkway from their neighborhoods. Today, over 130,000 vehicles per day travel the GCP.

• Posted in: Almanac