New York Roads - I-278 - Brooklyn-Queens Expwy. - WB

I-278 West, Brooklyn-Queens Expressway


Courtesy Doug Kerr, I am heading east on the Grand Central Parkway but this is really I-278 WB kludged onto it. Exit numbers already reflect the Grand Central Parkway being the through route, though newer signs don't number either branch at this junction.


Here are the modern, ugly "WB" signs at what is theoretically Exit 44, starting at Steinway St. and passing under the freight line from Hell. Hell Gate Bridge, I mean. Ironically, the last overpass before the exit is 44th St., which is posted despite being hidden.


Keep note of the exit numbers on these signs, provided by Doug Kerr. You'll see the same signs in a moment:


Yup, you guessed it, these were renumbered in the 2000s.


WB across the Kosciuszko Bridge, which passes by quite an impressive graveyard. It's not easy to steal guiderail from the side of a freeway with no shoulder. See the merge sign in the background of the narrow shield (6th photo)? That merge creates traffic headaches for miles on this and I-495 (which interchanges just to the north/east). That's why the replacement for the Kosciuszko is proposed to have nine lanes - but the fate of New York City traffic may depend on which side gets the extra lane. (It's northbound. Probably the better choice.) Other notes: St. Raphael Roman Catholic Church on the right of the 4th photo, Williamsburg Bridge in the 5th and penultimate photos, Freedom Tower under construction in the 7th photo (completed in November 2014).


BQE construction brings out the worst in contractors.


Past the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges, ending along Exit 28.


Back on the freeway and into the quadruple deck that begins there, ending on the Exit 27 ramp. Furman St. is the lower level, I-278 EB is the next level up, and on top is a park with fabulous views of NYC, a concession by Robert Moses to the adjoining Brooklyn neighborhood in order to get his road built. Other villages (the NYC term for neighborhoods) weren't so lucky with their demands.


The brief BQE (the popular abbreviation) trench shows the same brick walls present on I-95 in the Cross Bronx Expressway, and in need of repair. After the Battery Tunnel (unsigned I-478) and Hamilton Ave. exit, the BQE technically becomes the Gowanus Expressway, though not by signage.

Switch sides to I-278 EB
BQE cross streets
West to the Staten Island and Gowanus Expwys.
East to the Triboro Bridge

I-278 Spur, BQE East Leg
Back to I-278 main page

Exit (44) to the Grand Central Parkway
Exit (44) to LaGuardia Airport
Exit 36 (now 39) to NY 25
Exit 35 to I-495
Exit 29 to the Manhattan Bridge
Exit 28 to the Brooklyn Bridge
To NY 27
See more of Queens
See more of Brooklyn
Brooklyn-Queens Expressway on Steve Anderson's nycroads.com
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