Description
The overpass carrying Lake Avenue over what was then a freight and passenger railway (the North Shore Branch of the Staten Island Railway) was constructed during the mid-1930s, in conjunction with the lowering of the railroad right-of-way, as one link in a massive grade crossing removal project.
The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $1.46 million grant for the $6 million grade crossing elimination project, which included work elsewhere in Staten Island and even in Manhattan. PWA Docket No. NY 4926.
Source notes
Gary Owen’s S.I.R.T. North Shore Line Page: https://gretschviking.net/GOSIRTNorthShore.htm (accessed Mar. 2018)
National Bridge Invenory data: https://bridgereports.com/ny/richmond/ (accessed Mar. 1938)
National Archives: Record Group 135: Public Works Administration; Projects Control Division; Entry 52: Indices to Non-Federal Projects; Report No. 5: Status of All Completed Non-Federal Allotted Projects, page 22.
Brooklyn Daily Eagle: "Opens S.I. Viaduct; Longest in Nation," Feb. 26, 1937.
The New York Times: "Staten Island Opens Mile-Long Viaduct: Thirty-four Grade Crossings Are Eliminated," Feb. 26, 1937.
Project originally submitted by Evan Kalish on March 8, 2018.
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