The Highway That Almost Split Lower Manhattan

A highway was supposed to cross Lower Manhattan, linking the Holland Tunnel with the East River bridges. It had official backing, revised designs and years of debate. It was never completed. The story of the Lower Manhattan Expressway, Jane Jacobs and collective opposition—and why Robert Moses's elevated proposal, later depressed-roadway proposals and Paul Rudolph's speculative study must not be confused. The World That Almost Existed Real plans. Almost-built futures. CHAPTERS 00:00 The road that never opened 00:42 Connecting Lower Manhattan 02:32 Streets beneath the route 03:11 Jacobs and collective opposition 04:12 The design changed 04:32 Rudolph's speculative study 05:42 The city changes course 06:39 What survived RESEARCH SOURCES NYC Municipal Archives: LOMEX exhibition https://nyc-archives.squarespace.com/... City Planning Commission report, 20 August 1969 https://www.nyc.gov/assets/planning/d... NYC Municipal Archives: City Hall history https://www.archives.nyc/middle-ground NYC Council Resolution 0299 (2006) https://legistar.council.nyc.gov/View... MoMA: Rudolph's LOMEX study https://www.moma.org/collection/works... The Met: Paul Rudolph https://www.metmuseum.org/pt/perspect... NYC: SoHo industrial history https://www.nyc.gov/assets/planning/d... Research on Lindsay-era joint development https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/... IMAGE CREDITS Cervin Robinson / Historic American Buildings Survey / Library of Congress: E.V. Haughwout Building, Broome Street facade and cornice details, March 1967. Public-domain HABS survey photographs. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ny0... https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ny0... Samuel.north: E.V. Haughwout Building, March 2009. CC BY 3.0 Unported. Changes: cropping, framing and gentle zoom; original color and geometry retained. No photographer endorsement implied. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Phil Stanziola / New York World-Telegram and Sun / Library of Congress: Jane Jacobs, West Village press conference, 5 December 1961. Public-domain staff photograph. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/200... Paul Rudolph Archive / Library of Congress: speculative LOMEX drawings, LC-DIG-ppmsca-30548 (circa 1970) and LC-DIG-ppmsca-26453 (date unverified). Selected-collection public-domain dedication basis; not a blanket claim for all Rudolph works. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/201... https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/201... Paul Rudolph model fragment, circa 1970; photographs by Eileen Travell / The Met, 2024, via Library of Congress. Files 97745, 97749 and 97753: rights free by agreement with The Met, as stated in the item record. https://www.loc.gov/item/2018645180/ FILM CREDITS Prelinger Archives / Internet Archive. Each item is marked Public Domain in its archive record: Greenwich Village Sunday — Stewart Wilensky, early 1960s. https://archive.org/details/Greenwic1960 Arteries of New York City — Encyclopaedia Britannica Films; catalog date 1941, exact revision and shot dates unverified. https://archive.org/details/Arteries1941 1964 New York World's Fair Report — Campbell Films, 1961. https://archive.org/details/1964NewY1961 Images are framed/cropped with gentle camera motion. Original film sound and music are omitted. Archive films are historical context, not footage of LOMEX construction, hearings, protests or a victory rally. Rudolph images show speculative studies and a model, not a built city. Maps and elevated/depressed-road graphics are original explanatory schematics, approximate and not to scale. Reported homes/jobs figures are proposal estimates, not actual losses.