This 1998 photo shows the Van Wyck Expressway (I-678) looking north at the Jewel Avenue (EXIT 11) overpass toward the Flushing Meadows-Corona Park complex. (Photo by Jeff Saltzman.)
Named after the first mayor of the unified New York City, Robert C. Van Wyck (pronounced "van-WIKE"), and for the boulevard that preceded the expressway, the Van Wyck Expressway connects John F. Kennedy Airport with the Whitestone Expressway (I-678) and the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge further north.
PLANS BEFORE THE VAN WYCK: In 1941, the New York City Planning Department unveiled plans for a network of express highways and parkways. Specifically, three express highways were to provide access from northern Queens and Manhattan, to southern Queens and Nassau County, as follows:
Queens Boulevard Express Highway: conversion of the existing Queens Boulevard (NY 25) to an expressway
Woodhaven Boulevard-Cross Bay Boulevard Express Highway: conversion of the existing Woodhaven Boulevard-Cross Bay Boulevard to an expressway
Kew-Laurelton Express Highway: a new expressway between the eastern terminus of Queens Boulevard and the Belt Parkway-Sunrise Highway interchange; was to have been constructed along the Locust Manor LIRR branch
Work on the expressways was postponed by World War II. In 1945, New York City arterial coordinator Robert Moses rejected the city's plans for north-south highways through Queens, choosing instead a new alignment along Van Wyck Boulevard. The Van Wyck alignment was to connect the Kew Gardens interchange with the new Idlewild Airport, and in conjunction with the Grand Central Parkway and the Queens-Midtown (Long Island) Expressway, was to provide a direct route from mid-Manhattan to the airport.
LEFT: This 1951 photo shows the Van Wyck Expressway at EXIT 3 (Linden Boulevard) in South Ozone Park. RIGHT: This 1951 photo shows the Van Wyck Expressway at EXIT 2 (Rockaway Boulevard) in South Ozone Park. (Photos by Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Gottscho-Schleisner Collection, LC-G613-59846 and LC-G613-59852.)
SOUTHERN SECTION: The initial section of the Van Wyck Expressway, between Kennedy (then Idlewild) Airport and the Grand Central Parkway, was constructed along the old Van Wyck Boulevard alignment. Like the pre- and early-Interstate era expressways of the era, the southern section of the Van Wyck Expressway was designed with six 12-foot-wide lanes (three in each direction), 10-foot-wide cobblestone shoulders, and an unprotected cobblestone median. (It was not until the early 1960's when a continuous steel median guardrail was installed, and the mid-1970's when a concrete "Jersey" median barrier was installed.) Throughout most of its length, the expressway is depressed relative to street level. Ten acres of parks, playgrounds and recreational facilities were also provided.
This section proved to be no small task to construct. Moses had to lift in the air the busiest section of commuter railroad in the world, the Long Island Rail Road switching yards and terminal in Jamaica. Even as 1,100 commuter trains per day passed by overhead, Moses was able to slide the expressway under the railroad yards during a seven-month period. Furthermore, construction of the expressway included a network of roadways inside the airport.
The southern section of the Van Wyck Expressway opened in 1950 from the Belt Parkway south to Kennedy Airport. It was extended north to the Kew Gardens (Grand Central Parkway-Jackie Robinson Parkway) interchange two years later. The $30 million cost of the expressway was split between the state and Federal governments.
Thomas Scannello, webmaster of oldnyc.com and frequent contributor to nycroads.com, provided his opinion on the design of this section of the Van Wyck Expressway as follows:
Have you ever noticed how much nicer the bridges look on the Van Wyck compared to other Interstate expressways in New York City? Many of the bridges have the fancy stone and brick facades for their supports. When the expressway dips below street level, the retaining walls also have nice facades. The entrance and exit ramps were also nicely landscaped, with trees and bushes. I can't say that the Van Wyck has the total feel and appearance of a Moses-designed parkway, but it certainly comes closer to that layout than other New York City Interstates.
More from an e-mail sent by Paul A. Williamson:
I lived near the intersection of 97th Avenue and Van Wyck Boulevard in Jamaica from 1943 until mid-1952. I was seven years old in 1948 and was fascinated by the big trucks (old time chain drive Mack trucks) and this gigantic project going on in my neighborhood. My friends and I would sneak down into the construction site in the evening (city life for children was simpler in the late 1940's than it is now). The hole, the below-street level roadway under construction, seemed a thousand feet deep to me then.
There was an apartment house on Van Wyck Boulevard at 97th Avenue, about seven stories high, that was moved out of the way on rollers such that after it was resettled what had been the back door became the new front door. My mother once introduced me to a burly construction worker in the neighborhood Bohack grocery that she said actually "pushed the building across the road", an exaggeration that I believed for years after.
Finally, I have a memory of General Douglas Macarthur being welcomed home in 1952 on the then, either recently opened or about to be opened, Van Wyck Expressway.
One fateful decision would condemn motorists for many years to come. From Robert A. Caro's "The Power Broker:"
Three lanes of this particular expressway could, under optimum conditions, carry each hour 2,630 vehicles, most of them bearing a single passenger. One lane of rapid transit could, under optimum conditions, carry 40,000 persons per hour. Build the Van Wyck with rapid transit, and you would be insuring that, for generations, persons traveling to Idlewild would be able to get there with speed - an express trip from Pennsylvania Station in mid-Manhattan to the airport would take exactly sixteen minutes - and comfort.
Building the Van Wyck with rapid transit would, moreover, be easy. The north-south expressway was going to cross Queens Boulevard in Kew Gardens. A subway - the IND east-west line (E and F lines) running out from mid-Manhattan - crossed that very intersection. When it reached that intersection, moreover, it slanted south - by coincidence, toward Idlewild - for about a mile before heading east again. During that mile, its tracks lay almost precisely beneath the right-of-way that Moses was even then acquiring for the Van Wyck. Nine expensive miles of rapid transit link between mid-Manhattan and Idlewild were already completed. All that was needed to complete a rapid transit link was to bring that subway up to the expressway's center mall and extend it for another three miles.
Moreover, another subway - the IND's Fulton Avenue line (A line), coming out from lower Manhattan through downtown Brooklyn - ran close to Idlewild's western edge. Build a branch of that line into the airport, and travelers from lower Manhattan - including the Wall Street business district from which come so large a proportion of the airport's users - would also be able to reach it by train.
Perhaps the city could not afford at the present time even the relatively small cost of the construction of three miles of surface rapid transit. F. Dodd McHugh, chief of the Office of Master Planning of the City Planning Commission, doubted this was true: the cost would be no more than $9 million. Even if the city did not construct the rapid transit lines now, McHugh said that provision should be made for future construction. The cost of providing the additional fifty feet of right-of-way would be about $1,875,000. Spend the money now, McHugh argued, and the right-of-way would be available whenever the city wanted to use it. Don't spend it now, and if the city should want to acquire the necessary right-of-way for rapid transit in the future, after the expressway opened, the land would be many times more expensive than it was now.
With the provision for the rapid transit line nixed by Moses, it did not take long for the new Van Wyck Expressway to become clogged with traffic. Within weeks, the six-lane expressway (three lanes in each direction) reached its "peak capacity" of 10,000 vehicles per hour. As air traffic burgeoned in the 1950's, this amount reached 20,000 vehicles per hour. In fact, by one estimate, a traveler bound for the airport terminals by private car during rush hour had to allow a full half-hour for travel upon arriving at airport grounds.
LEFT: This 1951 photo shows another view of the Van Wyck Expressway at EXIT 2 (Rockaway Boulevard) in South Ozone Park. RIGHT: This 1955 photo shows the Van Wyck Expressway approaching its (then-) northern terminus at the Kew Gardens Interchange. The expressway was not extended north of this point until 1963. (Photos by Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Gottscho-Schleisner Collection, LC-G613-59853 and LC-G613-66710.)
NORTHERN SECTION: In preparation for the 1964-1965 World's Fair at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, New York City embarked on a series of road improvement projects. One of these proposals, a $40 million northern extension of the Van Wyck Expressway between the Grand Central Parkway and Northern Boulevard, was constructed between 1961 and 1963. At Northern Boulevard, I-678 continues north as the Whitestone Expressway.
Before the expressway was built, a temporary extension of the IND (E and F) subway line occupied the Van Wyck right-of-way. The temporary subway line served the 1939-1940 World's Fair at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, and was dismantled after the Fair closed.
Improving upon the design concepts of the original expressway, the refinements along the six-lane northern extension included paved shoulders, longer acceleration and deceleration lanes, and crash attenuators. Nearly one mile of the expressway is elevated in the area of the Long Island Expressway (I-495) and Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.
EARLY USE OF AUTOMATED TRAFFIC CONTROL: In 1969, an automated traffic control system was implemented along the southern 3.7 miles of the Van Wyck Expressway. The system, a precursor of today's INFORM system on Long Island, uses ramp signals and variable message signs to control traffic on the expressway.
THE I-678 DESIGNATION: The I-678 designation was not given to the Van Wyck Expressway until the early 1970's. According to maps prior to that time, the then-unsigned I-678 designation first went along the unbuilt Astoria Expressway through northwest Queens, and then along the Grand Central Parkway.
From Ralph Herman, frequent contributor to nycroads.com and misc.transport.road:
I first discovered that I-678 was extended to Kennedy Airport when I saw the NYSDOT TMM's on the Van Wyck Expressway. The markers and guide signs appeared on the expressway later in the 1970's.
The I-678 designation along the Van Wyck Expressway actually begins at EXIT 1 (Belt Parkway / NY 878-Nassau Expressway / NY 27-Conduit Avenue), just beyond the northern boundary of JFK Airport. Within the confines of the airport, the expressway is maintained by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and therefore does not appear in the NYSDOT route log as I-678.
FIXING THE VAN WYCK VIADUCT: In March 1988, the southbound Van Wyck Expressway at EXIT 13 (NY 25A-Northern Boulevard) in Flushing was closed for several weeks after NYSDOT and NYCDOT workers discovered that three of five steel beams supporting the 40-foot-high southbound viaduct were seriously corroded. Tragedy was averted when a truck driver noticed that a large roadway slab had slipped down four inches, creating a serious bump, and called the police. The police shut down the roadway while work crews arrived at the scene.
During the late 1980's and early 1990's, the NYSDOT reconstructed the elevated section of the Van Wyck Expressway in the area of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. The $80 million project included rehabilitation of three miles of the Van Wyck mainline viaduct and interchange ramps (deck and superstructure), repaving, and new lighting and signs.
This 1964 photo shows the Van Wyck Expressway looking south at EXIT 12 (I-495 / Long Island Expressway) at the eastern edge of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. The expressway was open for just a few months when this photo was taken, and the I-678 designation did not appear on the route until seven years later. Exit numbers did not appear on the expressway until the mid-to-late 1970's. (Photo supplied by Kevin Robokoff.)
TAKE THE TRAIN TO THE PLANE: Between 1978 and 1990, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) ran "The Train to the Plane," an express service that ran along the A line from Manhattan to Howard Beach, Queens. However, this was not a direct service: commuters had to take a shuttle bus from the Howard Beach (the IND A line) station to Kennedy Airport. The inconvenient transfers and relatively high $4.00 fare contributed to low ridership, ultimately killing the service.
Nevertheless, officials did not give up on the idea of a direct rail link to JFK. After a series of abortive attempts over the past three decades, New York City, New York State, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey finally agreed on a direct rail link from Jamaica to JFK in September 1997.
In April 1998, the Port Authority awarded an initial $930 million construction contract and a $105 million to a consortium of companies. Construction of the three-line elevated rail system known as "Airtrain" began five months later. The three separate lines were developed as develops:
A two-mile rail line linking Kennedy's nine terminals to each other.
A 3.4-mile line linking the terminals to parking lots, rental car agencies and the Howard Beach subway station.
A three-mile elevated line running up the center median of the Van Wyck Expressway linking the airport at Jamaica Station in Queens to the Long Island Rail Road, the E, J and Z subway lines, as well as to numerous bus lines linking Queens and Nassau counties.
The $1.9 billion construction contract and a $105 million, five-year contract to run and maintain the line was awarded to a team of companies: Skanska USA, the U.S. division of a Swedish heavy construction company; Bombardier Transit Corporation, a Quebec train manufacturer; and Perini Corporation of Framingham, Massachusetts, a construction company.
The 8.4-mile Airtrain project was about one-fourth the price of a proposed 22-mile railway linking Manhattan, Kennedy Airport and LaGuardia Airport that was deemed too costly in 1995, one of 21 proposals that have stalled over the past three decades. It would allow commuters to take a 45-minute, one-transfer rail trip from Penn Station in midtown Manhattan to Kennedy Airport via the LIRR-Jamaica station.
Two 1998 views of the congested southbound Van Wyck Expressway. LEFT: The 73rd Avenue pedestrian overpass in Kew Gardens Hills. RIGHT: View from Union Turnpike at the Kew Gardens interchange. (Photos by Jeff Saltzman.)
AIRTRAIN CONSTRUCTION: Tom Scannello, creator of the oldnyc.com website, posted the following comment on the Airtrain project in the misc.transport.road and nyc.transit newsgroups back in 1999:
The question that always intrigues me is how they plan on building a rail link down the expressway's divided median? When I ride the LIRR and look down on to the Van Wyck when the LIRR crosses over the expressway, it appears to me that the Van Wyck lane divider is extremely narrow. The expressway is trenched in the area of the intersection. The Van Wyck service northbound and southbound service roads are above the trench, and the LIRR trestle is above the trench and service roads. Expressway entrance and exit ramps to the service roads are very short in this area. Engineers will not have much room to work with when engineering a rail solution for the expressway.
This should be an interesting project to watch once it gets underway. When the Van Wyck was built, engineers had to lift the LIRR tracks above the expressway. That was a difficult task. This new train project will prove to be very challenging to the engineers.
Construction activity began in October 1999 with the re-striping of the north and southbound lanes between EXIT 1 (Belt Parkway) and EXIT 5 (Atlantic Avenue), and pile driving for guideway construction began six months later. Along the five-mile-long Airtrain route, 327 columns were erected, supporting 332 guideway spans (each measuring 110 to 130 feet). Closer to the Kennedy Airport terminals, workers constructed a cut-and-cover tunnel under the taxiways. The tunnel parallels the existing expressway underpass.
Further north along the expressway, work included site restoration, repaving, reconstruction of entrance and exit ramps (including extension of acceleration-deceleration lanes), and construction of retaining walls.
Even during construction, the Airtrain project continued to serve as a lighting rod for controversy. During an overnight construction period in June 2000, arsonists set fire to a 120-foot-high crane that was being used to assemble the concrete stanchions, causing $1.8 million in damage. More controversy was stirred in September 2002, when test operator Kevin DeBourgh was killed by falling cinder blocks that were used by simulate the weight of Airtrain passengers.
On August 15, 2001, workers installed the final concrete segment of the Airtrain guideway over the expressway. The JFK-to-Jamaica Airtrain segment over the Van Wyck Expressway became fully operational on December 17, 2003.
LEFT: This 1998 photo shows the Roosevelt Avenue (and IRT #7 train) overpass in Flushing over the Van Wyck Expressway. Formerly a drawbridge over the Flushing River, the Roosevelt Avenue Bridge was converted into a fixed bridge when the Van Wyck Expressway was constructed over the (non-navigable) section of the river. (Photo by Jeff Saltzman.) RIGHT: This 1998 photo shows the southbound Van Wyck Expressway, approaching the exits for Union Turnpike and the Jackie Robinson Parkway. (Photo by Steve Anderson.)
THE EXPRESSWAY TODAY: The Van Wyck Expressway serves as a vital link between east-west arteries, the East River bridges and JFK Airport. From the Whitestone interchange south to the Kew Gardens interchange, approximately 110,000 vehicles per day (AADT) travel the six lanes of expressway. With the same six-lane capacity, nearly 160,000 vehicles per day travel the section between the Kew Gardens interchange and JFK Airport.
According to a 1994 corridor study conducted by the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), trucks accounted for eight percent of morning-peak volume and five percent of evening-peak volume.
CURRENT AND FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS: The NYSDOT and the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council have scheduled the following projects along the Van Wyck Expressway:
The NYSDOT rehabilitated nine bridges at the "Kew Gardens interchange" with the Grand Central Parkway and Jackie Robinson Parkway, in preparation for more significant work later on this decade. The $41 million project was completed in late 2002.
The NYSDOT rehabilitated and resurfaced the expressway mainline, and improved the drainage system from EXIT 10 (Grand Central Parkway) north to EXIT 12 (I-495 / Long Island Expressway). The $24 million was completed in early 2003.
The NYSDOT installed an ITS ("intelligent transportation") system along the Van Wyck-LIE corridor from the Kew Gardens interchange to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel. The $77 million project, which was completed in 2003, included an upgrade of existing ramp signals.
In conjunction with the Airtrain project, the NYSDOT rehabilitated 14 bridges along the Van Wyck Expressway from EXIT 1 (Belt Parkway) north to EXIT 6 (Hillside Avenue-Jamaica Avenue), and replaced several pedestrian bridges over the expressway. The $59 million project was completed in mid-2003.
To address safety and congestion concerns, the NYSDOT will extend acceleration-deceleration ramps, and construct new auxiliary lanes. The $37 million project was completed in 2004.
The NYSDOT is rebuilding the elevated roadways connecting the Van Wyck Expressway to the Whitestone Expressway. The work will entail the replacing 76 spans, and rebuilding roadways to accommodate Interstate-standard lane and shoulder widths. Part of the $200 million Whitestone Expressway reconstruction project, this work is scheduled for completion in mid-2009.
The state is studying alternatives for a massive reconstruction of EXIT 12 (I-495 / Long Island Expressway) at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Among the potential alternatives are the extension of acceleration / deceleration lanes, and improvements (such as the construction of a roundabout or jughandles) to the at-grade intersection between the LIE service roads and College Point Boulevard. The final alternative will be announced in 2008, with construction planned for sometime after 2010.
State and city transportation officials began design work on the reconstruction of the Kew Gardens interchange between the Van Wyck Expressway (I-678), Grand Central Parkway and Jackie Robinson Parkway. The work, which will address 17 merging and weaving problem areas at the interchange, will involve relocating the northbound EXIT 10 (Grand Central Parkway) from a left-hand exit to a right-hand exit, extending acceleration-deceleration lanes (and eliminating the "stop-sign" movements), and rebuilding several bridges (including the Jewel Avenue overpass). The state also plans to address chronic drainage problems at the interchange, the result of a low water table and a contributing factor to periodic flooding and numerous accidents. Currently estimated at a cost of $345 million, the project is tentatively scheduled to begin in 2010, with completion scheduled six years hence.
LEFT: This 2002 photo shows the southbound Van Wyck Expressway (I-678) at the LIRR viaduct in Jamaica. Moses constructed the expressway underneath the sprawling LIRR Jamaica station complex even as some 1,100 trains passed through the area daily. RIGHT: This 2002 photo shows the southbound Van Wyck Expressway approaching EXIT 1 (Belt Parkway, NY 27 / Conduit Avenue and NY 878 / Nassau Expressway) in South Ozone Park. Note the completed concrete-and-steel guideway for the JFK Airtrain above the expressway median. (Photos by Jim K. Georges.)
ON WIDENING THE EXPRESSWAY: To alleviate chronic congestion on the Van Wyck Expressway, many have suggested widening the route. However, this suggestion has been met with vociferous opposition from local communities along the route.
Furthermore, as Ralph Herman suggests, the following engineering challenges would come before any expressway widening takes place:
Rebuilding the LIRR yards west of Jamaica Station, since all of the viaducts over the Van Wyck would have to be widened to allow additional expressway lanes.
Rebuilding the Queens Blvd and Hoover Avenue overpasses, as well as most of the overpasses south to Kennedy Airport.
Rebuilding the Kew Gardens (Grand Central Parkway-Jackie Robinson Parkway) interchange to improve geometrics.
Reconfiguration of the entrance and exit ramps to allow for better traffic flow on the mainline expressway.
The two most dangerous areas along the expressway are between Queens Boulevard (NY 25) and the LIRR tracks in Jamaica. Northbound, the problem area is the slight upgrade from the LIRR underpass to EXIT 8 (Main Street). In this area, trucks appear to really have a problem maintaining speed up this upgrade. The short acceleration lanes from Atlantic Avenue and Hillside Avenue aggravate this situation. Southbound, the problem area is the merging traffic entering from Queens Blvd and Main Street, and exiting to EXIT 5 (Atlantic Avenue). The acceleration and deceleration lanes are too short to allow traffic to merge at the posted 50 MPH speed.
To ease congestion and permit safer merging between Kennedy Airport and the Kew Gardens interchange, the entrance and exit ramps should be reconfigured. This will allow for construction of a fourth lane in each direction.
According to Mark Kulewicz, director of traffic engineering and safety service at the Automobile Club of New York (the local affiliate of the AAA), the $600 million Van Wyck Expressway widening proposal could carry as many as 3,000 additional people per hour, about as many as the proposed Airtrain would carry each day.
Recently, there has been some speculation in misc.transport.road that the temporary outside lanes built for the Airtrain construction may eventually be converted to permanent lanes, providing four lanes of traffic in each direction. Ralph Herman put this speculation to rest as follows:
Any expansion of any expressway or parkway would require extensive permitting by state and Federal agencies. Nobody can "sneak and expansion through." I submit the I-495 "expansion" from the Cross Island Pkwy to the Queens-Nassau border as an example of how it is nearly impossible to expand any route within New York City. My guess is the "outside temporary lane" is destined to be a replacement for the 1940's-era raised Belgian block shoulder, bringing the Van Wyck closer to modern freeway standards.
Along the northern extension of the Van Wyck Expressway, extended acceleration-deceleration lanes should be provided at EXIT 12 (I-495 / Long Island Expressway) near Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Further north, at the junction of the Van Wyck Expressway and the Whitestone Expressway in Flushing, additional lanes should be constructed to connect the two highways, since they both form part of I-678. Just north of the junction, a new exit ramp should be constructed for EXIT 14 (Linden Place) such that motorists from the elevated Grand Central Parkway / Northern Boulevard connector do not have to swerve over two lanes (or more) of traffic.
SOURCES: "Master Plan: Express Highways, Parkways and Major Streets," New York City Planning Department (1941); "Airport Highway To Open This Year" by Joseph C. Ingraham, The New York Times (1/24/1950); "Opening Set Today for Road Links," The New York Times (10/14/1950); "All Major Roads to World's Fair Expected To Be Ready in a Month" by Bernard Stengren, The New York Times (12/28/1963); Arterial Progress 1959-1965, Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (1965); "New System To Maintain Flow on Van Wyck," The New York Times (8/15/1969); The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro, Vintage Books-Random House (1974); "A New Transit Plan for Airport Gaining" by Irvin Molotsky, The New York Times (6/08/1980); "Sign of Collapse Leads to Closing Of Queens Road" by George James, The New York Times (3/03/1988); "MTA Proposes Rail Line to Link Major Airports" by Calvin Sims, The New York Times (3/18/1990); "JFK Rail Plan Gets Rudy's OK" by Douglas Feiden, New York Daily News (10/01/1997); "Plan for Rail Link Between Manhattan and JFK Airport Gains" by David Rohde, The New York Times (4/17/1998); "The Legend of Rip Van Wyck" by Mark Kulewicz, Car and Travel-Automobile Club of New York (February 1999); "Council Report: Train to the Plane Is Simply Insane" by Gary McLendon, The Queens Tribune (4/22/1999); "Manhattan to Kennedy Train Wins Pivotal Approval" by Vivian S. Toy, The New York Times (6/03/1999); "Port Authority Won Uphill Battle To Build the Train to the Plane" by Dan Barry, The New York Times (6/06/1999); "Full Speed Ahead for Airtrain Despite Arson and Protests" by David Oats, The Queens Tribune (6/07/2000); "Problem Areas for Van Wyck-GCP Repair Noted" by Linda J. Wilson, The Queens Gazette (7/24/2003); "Airtrain Set To Open: Right on Track?" by Jeremy Olshan, The Queens Tribune (12/04/2003); "State Eyes Traffic Changes at LIE / GCP / Van Wyck Interchange" by Robert Brodsky, The Queens Chronicle (5/13/2004); "Whitestone Roadwork Delayed Once Again" by Liz Rhoades, The Queens Chronicle (5/03/2007); "End in Sight for Van Wyck Work, but More Still Ahead" by Theresa Juva, The Queens Chronicle (5/24/2007); "Tragic Toll of Queens Roadway" by Angela Montefinese, New York Post (2/24/2008); Committee for Better Transit; New York Metropolitan Transportation Council; New York State Department of Transportation; Vollmer Associates; John Anderson; Daniel T. Dey; Hank Eisenstein; Marvin Gruza; Ralph Herman; Nathan W. Perry; Peter Rosa; Jeff Saltzman; Tom Scannello; Dobrow Stephen; Paul A. Williamson; Douglas A. Willinger.
I-678 shield by Ralph Herman. Lightposts by Jeff Saltzman.
