 Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive | |
|---|---|
| FDR Drive | |
 FDR Drive highlighted in red | |
| Route information | |
| Maintained byNYSDOT andNYCDOT | |
| Length | 9.68 mi[1] (15.58 km) |
| Existed | 1955[2]–present |
| History | Upgraded in 1966[2] |
| Restrictions | No commercial vehicles north of exit 1 |
| Major junctions | |
| South end | |
| Major intersections | |
| North end |  Harlem River Drive /RFK Bridge /Willis Avenue Bridge inEast Harlem |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | New York |
| Counties | New York |
| Highway system | |
Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive, commonly known as theFDR Drive, is acontrolled-accessparkway on the east side of theNew York City borough ofManhattan. It starts nearSouth andBroad Streets, just north of theBattery Park Underpass, and runs north along theEast River to the125th Street /Robert F. Kennedy Bridge interchange, where it becomesHarlem River Drive. All of FDR Drive is designatedNew York State Route 907L (NY 907L), an unsignedreference route.
FDR Drive features a mix of below-grade, at-grade, and elevated sections, as well as three partially covered tunnels. The parkway is mostly three lanes in each direction, except for several small sections.
By law, the current weight limit on FDR Drive from 23rd Street to Harlem River Drive in both directions is posted 8,000 pounds (3,600 kg). All commercial vehicles (including trucks) are banned from FDR Drive north of exit 1.[3]
TheEast River Greenway runs below, beside, or above FDR Drive along nearly its entire length, except for a section between 41st and 53rd Streets.[4] A plaque dedicating the East River Drive is visible on the southbound roadway before entering theGracie Mansion tunnel at 90th Street.
FDR Drive starts at the southern tip ofManhattan atSouth andWhitehall Streets in theFinancial District. It rises from the undergroundBattery Park Underpass to an elevated viaduct above South Street, with an at-grade connection to South Street at exit 1. The elevated viaduct continues northeast, with an interchange atBrooklyn Bridge at exit 2. The elevated road, also known as theSouth Street Viaduct, continues until Gouverneur Slip, near theManhattan Bridge interchange (exit 3), where there are a southbound exit and northbound entrance. From here, the road is at-grade, with a southbound exit/entrance atGrand Street, exit 4.[5]
FDR Drive continues north throughLower East Side andAlphabet City, and dips underHouston Street at exit 5, in a three-way interchange. It continues north as an at-grade road. Between14th and15th Streets, FDR Drive passes theCon EdisonEast River Generating Station. The power plant is surrounded by ramps for the former exit 6, a southbound exit and entrance which was closed for security purposes afterSeptember 11, 2001.[6]
By18th Street, FDR Drive curves north onto an elevated viaduct aboveAvenue C. The elevated viaduct continues until25th Street to serve the23rd Street interchange at exit 7. This exit serves the neighborhood ofKips Bay. At 23rd Street, Avenue C continues as the northboundservice road for FDR Drive, while the southbound lanes split from the main highway at 25th Street.[5]
FDR Drive continues north as an at-grade road, with theWaterside Plaza complex located along the East River to the east of the parkway. The southbound lanes ascend to a viaduct at28th Street, and the northbound lanes ascend at30th Street. There are a southbound entrance and northbound exit at ground level at 28th-30th Streets, where the southbound service road begins again. The northbound exit, labeled exit 8, serves34th Street inMurray Hill, which is located four blocks north; the FDR Drive service road curves underneath the main highway until 36th Street. Another southbound entrance is located at 34th Street itself, and rises to the viaduct level.[5]
At 38th Street, the northbound-only exit 9 for42nd Street, servingTurtle Bay, splits from FDR Drive. Exit 9 continues as an elevated ramp until the intersection of 42nd Street andFirst Avenue, where it becomes the westbound lanes of 42nd Street. FDR Drive dips onto street level and merges with the northbound service road. The southbound service road continues parallel to FDR Drive, and the southbound exit 8 splits from the parkway near 41st Street. The southbound service road then becomes the eastbound lanes of 42nd Street.[5]
Theheadquarters of the United Nations was constructed on a platform above at-grade FDR Drive from 42nd to 48th Streets.[7] The southbound roadway is inside a later structure resembling a tunnel while the northbound roadway is located just outside of the tunnel.[5] This section is often referred to as theUnited Nations Tunnel, even though only the westernmost lane of the northbound roadway is under the structure.[7]
At 48th Street, FDR Drive emerges from the United Nations tunnel. A northbound ramp from First Avenue merges onto the northbound roadway. The southbound roadway contains two exits: exit 10 at 49th Street, and exit 11 at 53rd Street.[5] At 54th Street, the road enters theSutton Place Tunnel, which passes under apartment buildings on the east side ofSutton Place and York Avenue until 60th Street.[8] In this tunnel, the southbound roadway is raised and runs over the northbound roadway for northbound access to and from theQueensboro Bridge interchange (exit 12).[5] As part of the design in this area, numerous homes on the river were demolished and rebuilt or otherwise modified to accommodate the highway.[8] At 63rd Street, the southbound lanes descend to ground level, at the same elevation as the northbound lanes.[5]
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From 63rd to 71st Streets, FDR Drive passes under a series of interconnected at-grade tunnels. The segment from 63rd to 68th Street runs under an annex constructed byRockefeller University,[9] while the section of roadway between 68th and 71st Streets runs underneath thepilotis of theNewYork–Presbyterian Hospital. Afterward, FDR Drive continues north at ground level. There is a southbound-only entrance and exit, labeled exit 13, at 71st–73rd Streets, servingLenox Hill on theUpper East Side. Another southbound-only entrance exists at79th Street; there is no exit from either direction, nor is there any exit number reserved for this interchange.[5]
From 81st to 90th Streets runs a final, enclosed double-decker structure. The southbound roadway is again raised over the northbound roadway in a short segment of the tunnel between 81st and 86th Streets.[5] The promenade ofCarl Schurz Park was built over the highway in 1939, nearGracie Mansion, the New York City mayor's residence.[10] There is a southbound entrance to FDR Drive at the intersection of 92nd Street and York Avenue. York Avenue then parallels FDR Drive until96th Street, where York Avenue ends. FDR Drive ascends onto a short elevated viaduct over the 96th Street interchange (exit 14) then descends to street level again.[5]
The remaining portion of FDR Drive is at grade, passing throughEast Harlem. There is a southbound-only entrance at 102nd Street, as well as a southbound-only exit at106th Street, labeled exit 15. At116th Street, there is another southbound-only exit and entrance numbered exit 16. When FDR Drive reaches 120th Street, there is an interchange (exit 17) for theRobert F. Kennedy Bridge, where it transitions into theHarlem River Drive and continues north after 125th Street.[5]
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A shorefront parkway in Manhattan along the East River was first proposed by Manhattan Borough PresidentJulius Miller in 1929. The 3.5-mile (5.6 km) parkway would extend from South Street to 54th Street.[11] The first sections of the East River Drive were constructed in the 1930s and were designed byRobert Moses. Moses faced the difficulties of building a parkway/boulevard combination along the East River while minimizing disruptions to residents. Many property owners along the East River Drive, especially in Midtown, opposed the boulevard unless noise mitigation measures were added.[12] The section from125th Street and theTriborough Bridge ramp south to 92nd Street was completed in 1936.[13] The sections from 92nd Street down toBattery Park (with the exception of a section from42nd to 49th Streets, located underneath theheadquarters of the United Nations) were built as a boulevard running at street level.[14] The first "downtown" section of the boulevard, betweenGrand and 12th Streets, was completed in June 1937.[15] Two more downtown sections, from 12th to14th Streets and then from 14th to 18th Streets, were opened in 1939.[16] A short connector from Grand to Montgomery Street was completed in May 1940, which meant that the boulevard was now continuous from Montgomery to 30th Streets.[17] The next month, a large stretch from 49th to 92nd Streets opened. By this point, the only contiguous section that remained to be completed was the stretch between 30th and 49th Streets.[18] The section of the East River Drive from23rd to34th Streets was completed in October 1941.[19] Known as the Bristol Basin, this section was built on wartimerubble dumped by cargo ships returning fromBristol,England, duringWorld War II. The GermanLuftwaffe bombed Bristol heavily. After delivering war supplies to the British, the ships' crews loaded rubble onto the ships forballast, then sailed back to New York, where construction crews made use of it.[20] On June 29, 1942, a plaque commemorating the use of rubble was dedicated by MayorFiorello LaGuardia,[21] and is currently installed at theWaterside Plaza complex.[22] The final part of the original boulevard, between 34th and 49th Streets, opened in May 1942.[23] Construction of this segment required modifications to the elevators and underground carriers that transported coal and ash between barges docked in the East River and theWaterside Generating Station andKips Bay Steam Plant.[24]
East River Drive was renamed asFranklin Delano Roosevelt East River Drive in June 1945, in honor ofFranklin Delano Roosevelt.[25] Despite this, the road is commonly referred to simply as "FDR Drive".[26]
Only a few years after its oldest stretches opened, city officials began planning to upgrade the parkway into an expressway. At-grade intersections would be eliminated on certain portions, while others would be replaced by new concrete viaducts, and others would be capped as tunnels. The road would also be extended to meet the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel.[citation needed] A plan to build a three-level section from 81st to 89th Streets was released in April 1940,[27] followed by an East River Drive overpass over96th Street in June.[28] Due to a bulkhead restriction, a section from 51st to 60th Streets was already being built with two decks.[27] Future reconstruction designs were created that would convert FDR Drive into the expressway that is in use today.[14] In 1948, construction was completed on a project that converted the section from 49th to 92nd Streets into a limited access highway.[2] An elevated ramp between 18th and 25th Streets, serving as an extension of the highway south of 23rd Street, was completed the next year,[29] replacing another at-grade section.[30] The Battery Park Underpass was completed in 1951, indirectly connecting to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel.[31] TheSouth Street Viaduct, connecting the at-grade parkway north of Grand Street to theBattery Park Underpass andBrooklyn–Battery Tunnel at the southern tip of Manhattan, was completed in May 1954,[32] replacing the at-grade segment.[2] In 1960, construction was completed on a project that rebuilt the segment from Jackson Street and East 14th Street into a controlled access highway.[2] In 1966, construction was completed in a project that rebuilt the segment between East 14th Street and East 42nd Street into a grade separated expressway with an elevated viaduct. This marked completion of the expressway upgrade, and made it so that all exits were grade separated interchanges. It also made it so that most of the road consisted of six lanes, with only a few exceptions.[2]
In 1967, ramps were built that would have provided connections to theMid-Manhattan Expressway. However, after plans for the expressway were abandoned, the exit went unused, largely because there was already an exit four blocks north, at 34th Street. The unused exit was then blocked with a semi-permanent concrete barricade.[33]
In 1965, plans were announced for direct ramps to theBrooklyn Bridge, this would eliminate congestion at its approach by relocating traffic onto the expressway.[34] The ramp to the Brooklyn Bridge was opened in 1968,[35] followed by the ramp onto the FDR Drive in 1969.[36]
In 1971, plans to reconstruct the portion of the South Street Viaduct between its southern end and exit 2 as an extension of the Battery Park Underpass were announced. This was meant to improve the quality of life experienced by those who live near the structure. A new exit 1, consisting of a diamond configuration onto Wall Street would be built, replacing the existing exit 1 onto Water Street. Primarily due to its expensive cost, this was never undertaken.[2]
In the mid-1990s, a project to reconstruct the segment from 14th Street to 34th Street was undertaken.[2]
Beginning on August 15, 1985, the ramp with 42nd Street was closed for an extensive rebuild. When it reopened in April, it had an entirely new viaduct.[37] This was part of a larger project to rebuild the portion of the South Street Viaduct between 42nd Street and 50th Street. This structure, which had deteriorated significantly in its later years, was known to be at significant risk of collapse. A replacement ramp at 49th Street opened in October 1998.[2]
Exit 6, an at-grade interchange which connected to at 15th Street, passed through aConEdison substation, which handles most of the electricity forLower Manhattan. It was permanently closed after theSeptember 11 attacks when city and ConEdison officials concluded it was too risky to allow such easy access to such a critical piece of infrastructure.[38] The exit was demolished in 2014 after theNew York State Department of Transportation received notification from theNew York City Police Department that the exit would not be re-opened since the ConEdison facility was deemed a potential terrorist target. East 15th Street, as well as a corresponding entrance ramp from14th Street, were also closed east ofAvenue C, except to ConEdison and law enforcement vehicles. All signage of exit 6 was dismantled by early 2016.[5]
In 2002, a project to improve safety from East 63rd Street to the southern terminus at theTriborough Bridge was completed. Also as part of this project, Exit 16 was entirely reconstructed.[2]
In 2004, a reconstruction of the Gracie Mansion Underpass was completed.[2]
In November 2005, as part of the reconstruction ofNY 9A, the western end of the Battery Park Underpass was extended to the north by about 25 feet (7.6 m).[39]
In December 2002, work began to reconstruct the segment of roadway between East 54th Street and East 63rd Street. It was substantially completed in August 2007, and involved the construction of a temporary roadway in some areas.[40]
DuringHurricane Sandy, the Battery Park Underpass was filled with seawater. The damage resulted in major repairs.[41]
In November 2015, a resurfacing was completed between 125th Street and the Brooklyn Bridge.[42]
In 2016, the Rockfeller Tunnel was extended.[43]
In 2019, the South Street viaduct was rehabilitated and repainted purple.[44]
In September 2023, plans were announced by Manhattanborough presidentMark Levine to replace the South Street Viaduct with anurban boulevard. This would only occur if funding is obtained.[45] As stated by Levine, it "is the least heavily used part of the FDR and it has created a noisy uglier barrier between the people of lower Manhattan and their waterfront". The structure has also deteriorated significantly, requiring more maintenance than is deemed acceptable.[46]
TheSIM3,SIM6,SIM10,SIM11,SIM31,X37 andX38express buses use FDR Drive between its start inLower Manhattan and23rd Street.[47][48][49] In addition, theQM7,QM8,QM8 Super Express,QM11 andQM25 use FDR Drive between theBrooklyn Bridge exit and34th Street[50][51]
TheBM1,BM2,BM3 andBM4 buses use the FDR between Brooklyn Bridge and 23rd Street during the off-peak hours, but during thepeak hour, "Midtown Express" buses skip Downtown, running directly up the FDR to 23rd.[49][52]
The entire route is in theNew York Cityborough ofManhattan.
| Location | mi [1][5][53] | km | Exit | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battery Park City | 0.00 | 0.00 | – |     NY 9A north (West Street) /Hugh L. Carey Tunnel (I-478 Toll south) toI-278 –Brooklyn | Southern terminus; exit 1 on West Side Highway |
| Battery Park | 0.1– 0.5 | 0.16– 0.80 | Battery Park Underpass | ||
| Financial District | 0.6 | 0.97 | 1 | South Street –Battery Park,Staten Island Ferry | South Street not signed southbound; all trucks must exit |
| Two Bridges | 1.41 | 2.27 | 2 | Brooklyn Bridge –Manhattan Civic Center | Access to Civic Center viaPearl Street |
| 2.4 | 3.9 | 3 | South Street –Manhattan Bridge | Southbound exit and northbound entrance | |
| Lower East Side | 2.6 | 4.2 | 4 | Grand Street –Williamsburg Bridge | Southbound exit and entrance |
| 3.09 | 4.97 | 5 | East Houston Street –Williamsburg Bridge | Formerly signed forHolland Tunnel | |
| East Village | 3.70 | 5.95 | 6 | East 15th Street | Southbound exit and entrance; permanently closed in 2002 due to post-9/11 security concerns[38] |
| Peter Cooper Village | 4.30 | 6.92 | 7 | East 20th Street /East 23rd Street | East 20th Street not signed southbound; also servesAvenue C |
| Kips Bay | 4.6 | 7.4 | – | East 30th Street | Southbound entrance only |
| Murray Hill | 4.86 | 7.82 | 8 |   East 34th Street toI-495 east (Queens–Midtown Tunnel) | |
| 4.9 | 7.9 | 9 | East 42nd Street | Northbound exit only | |
| Midtown East | 5.2– 5.5 | 8.4– 8.9 | Tunnel underUnited Nations Headquarters | ||
| 5.6 | 9.0 | 10 | East 49th Street | Southbound exit and northbound entrance | |
| Sutton Place | 5.8 | 9.3 | 11 | East 53rd Street | Southbound exit only |
| 5.8– 6.1 | 9.3– 9.8 | Tunnel underSutton Place | |||
| Upper East Side | 6.1– 6.3 | 9.8– 10.1 | 12 |    East 61st Street /East 63rd Street toNY 25 east (Queensboro Bridge) | Signed for 61st Street northbound, 63rd Street southbound |
| 6.3– 6.7 | 10.1– 10.8 | Tunnel underRockefeller University /NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital /Hospital for Special Surgery | |||
| 6.7 | 10.8 | 13 | East 71st Street | Southbound exit and entrance | |
| Yorkville | 7.0 | 11.3 | – | East 79th Street | Southbound entrance only |
| 7.2– 7.6 | 11.6– 12.2 | Tunnel underCarl Schurz Park | |||
| East Harlem | 7.96 | 12.81 | 14 | East 96th Street | Also servesEast 97th Street andYork Avenue |
| 8.63 | 13.89 | 15 | East 106th Street | Southbound exit and entrance | |
| 9.15 | 14.73 | 16 | East 116th Street | Southbound exit only | |
| 9.68 | 15.58 | 17 |  RFK Bridge (NY 900G south) toI-278 /Grand Central Parkway east –Bruckner Expressway | Also servesRandall's Island | |
| – |   Harlem River Drive north /Willis Avenue Bridge toI-87 north (Major Deegan Expressway) –George Washington Bridge | Continuation north | |||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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The Rockefeller University's proposal to build a two-story, 160,000-square-foot [15,000 m2] building over FDR Drive adjacent to its campus passed an important milestone today with the City Council's vote to approve the plan.
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