One of the more ornate features of the West Side Elevated Highway was the bridge constructed over Canal Street and opened to the public in February 1939. In November 1982, the bridge was ripped down and sold for scrap. I’m not sure of the exact date of the photography above (courtesy the Library of Congress) but it’s clearly after the entire elevated highway was closed. Notice the weeds growing from the highway partition!
Sorry, notes from the podcast and regular posts will be on the way in the next few days.
2 replies on “A strange bridge over Canal Street”
I took a series of photographs of the demolition. Yes, it was the last section of the West Side Highway to be demolished. It appears to have been built to span the Holland Tunnel beneath the roadway, although the dates of construction of the Bridge and the Tunnel do not seem to meet chronologically…
I believe the Holland Tunnel was completed in 1927. The West Side Highway was constructed in the 1930’s. The tunnel ran under the proposed highway so the builders needed to avoid placing the stanchions supporting the elevated structure directly over the tunnel.