- City:
- New York City, Queens, NY
- Site Type:
- Infrastructure and Utilities, Roads, Bridges, and Tunnels
- New Deal Agencies:
- Works Progress Administration (WPA), Work Relief Programs
Description
Queens’s Union Turnpike, then an “unimportant stretch less than two miles long,” was developed as a paved, 100-foot-wide artery featuring a four-foot “center mall,” as a large Works Progress Administration (WPA) project in anticipation of the 1939 World’s Fair. Work focused on development of the road from Utopia Parkway east to the Nassau County line.
“This six-and-a-half-mile short-cut,” a $1,250,000 project, was constructed entirely by the WPA. The road was officially dedicated on June 30, 1939.
Source notes
The New York Times: "NEW NASSAU LINK READY THIS YEAR; Turnpike Laid Out a Decade Ago Will Be Rushed as a Relief Project," April 3, 1938 (pg. 1)
The New York Times: "DEDICATION IS HELD FOR QUEENS ROAD," July 1, 1939 (pg. 34)
Site originally submitted by Evan Kalish on March 23, 2018.
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