Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive

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Franklin Delano Roosevelt Drive
Reference Route 907L
Length:	9.4 mi[1] (15.13 km)
Formed:	1955 (original) 1966 (upgrade)
South end:	NY 9A (West Side Highway) South Street at the Battery Park Underpass
Major junctions:	I-495 at the Queens-Midtown Tunnel NY-25 at the Queensboro Bridge
North end:	Harlem River Drive at the Triboro Bridge
Counties:	New York
New York State Reference Routes

FDR Drive at night

FDR Drive is a nine mile freeway-standard parkway on the east side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It starts just north of the Battery Park underpass at South and Broad Streets, runs along the entire length of the East River from the Battery Park Underpass under Battery Park (north of which it is the South Street Viaduct for a bit) north to the Triborough Bridge (where it becomes Harlem River Drive). The highway is mostly 3 lanes in each direction, with the exception of a small section underneath the Brooklyn Bridge where it is 2 lanes southbound and 1 lane northbound. An additional section between the Queensboro Bridge/60/61st Street interchange is also narrowed to 2 lanes. By law, the current weight limits on the FDR Drive from 23rd Street to the Harlem River Drive in both directions, is posted 8,000 lbs.. South of 23rd Street, buses are allowed to use this section of the FDR but are not allowed north of 23rd Street because of clearance and weight issues. All commercial vehicles (including trucks) are banned from using any section of the FDR Drive. The FDR Drive features a varied mix of below grade, at grade, elevated sections, and three partially covered tunnels, often changing every mile or two to a different mode.

[edit] History

The F.D.R. Drive was originally named East River Drive, and is one of the brainchild designs of highway legend Robert Moses. Moses faced the difficult challenges of building a parkway/boulevard combination along the East River, while minimizing disruptions to residents. The section from 125th Street to 92nd Street is the original 1934 construction, while sections from 92nd Street down to Battery Park (with the exception of a section from 42nd to 49th Streets) were built as a boulevard, an arterial highway running at street level. Future reconstruction designs of the FDR Drive from 1948 to 1966 converted into a full parkway that is in use today. To date, only two movies have been filmed on the F.D.R. drive. The film Adam's Rib involves the highway in a driving scene, but an intense traffic action scene in the 1973 James Bond film Live and Let Die involves the F.D.R. drive, in which James Bond is being driven by a CIA driver when the villain Whisper drives by in a pimpmobile and shoots Bond's driver with a poison dart, leading Bond to steer the car from the backseat through dangerous New York traffic.

[edit] Topology

The FDR Drive starts at the southern tip at South and Broad Streets and quickly becomes elevated from there to a point between Jackson Street and Gouverneur Slip, by the Manhattan Bridge exit. From there it is at street level, until it passes underneath Houston St overpass, then continues at grade. Once past the 14th Street curve, it becomes elevated briefly, except the northbound roadway is at street level when passing through Waterside Plaza between 23rd and 34th Streets, then realigns with the southbound roadway above ground. The roadway quickly dips onto street level after passing 42nd Street, the southbound roadway is inside a tunnel while the northbound roadway appears to be on the outside of the tunnel. This is due to the construction of the United Nations Plaza above the FDR. Afterwards, there is another tunnel from 51st to 63rd Streets, in this tunnel, the southbound roadway is raised and runs slightly over the northbound roadway, so the Queensboro Bridge northbound exit can be built. After the roadways become level at 63rd Street, there is another tunnel, underneath the New York-Presbyterian and Cornell Medical Center hospitals, while remaining at grade. From 79th to 90th Street, the final tunnel is used, as Gracie Mansion is overhead. Except for a brief elevation over the 96th Street interchange, the remaining portion of the roadway from the Gracie Mansion tunnel to the 125th Street interchange is at grade.

A plaque dedicating the East River Drive, is visible on the southbound roadway before entering the Gracie Mansion tunnel at 90th Street.

It was originally named East River Drive, and was renamed after Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Its New York State Reference Route is 907L. It is referred to by locals as simply "The FDR". In the 1980s, chunks of the elevated road falling to the ground led to the joke that "FDR" stood for "Falling Down Roadway".^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Exit list

#	Mile	Destinations	Notes
	0.00	Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel (I-478) - Brooklyn West Side Highway (NY 9A) - Henry Hudson Bridge	Southbound junction only. Via Battery Park Underpass.
1		South Street - Battery Park, Staten Island Ferry, Financial District
2		Pearl Street - Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Civic Center
3		South Street - Manhattan Bridge, Chinatown, Little Italy	southbound exit and northbound entrance
4		Grand Street - Lower East Side	southbound entrance and exit
5		Houston Street - Williamsburg Bridge, East Village, Greenwich Village
6		East 15th Street	Permanently closed after 9/11
7		East 20th Street / East 23rd Street - Gramercy Park, Chelsea
		East 30th Street	southbound entrance only
8		East 34th Street To Queens-Midtown Tunnel (I-495) - Queens, Riverhead	northbound exit and southbound entrance
9		East 42nd Street	northbound exit and southbound entrance
10		East 49th Street	southbound exit, northbound entrance from East 48th Street
11		East 53rd Street	southbound exit only
12		East 61st Street / East 63rd Street To Queensboro Bridge (NY 25) - Queens
13		East 71st Street - Upper East Side	southbound exit and entrance
		East 79th Street	southbound entrance only
		East 92nd Street/York Ave	southbound entrance only
14		East 96th Street - Yorkville
15		East 106th Street - Spanish Harlem	southbound exit and entrance
16		East 116th Street - East Harlem	southbound exit and entrance
17		Triboro Bridge (I-278) - Bruckner Expressway, Grand Central Parkway, Brooklyn-Queens Expressway
Exit numbering continues on the Harlem River Drive

[edit] External links

• nycroads.com - FDR Drive