Robert Moses, Planned Route of the Lower Manhattan Expressway, Manhattan, NY, 1941-67
'The Lower Manhattan Expressway (LOMEX), also known as the Canal Street Expressway, was a controversial plan for an expressway through Lower Manhattan in New York City. It was to be a ten-lane elevated highway stretching from the East River to the Hudson River, connecting the Holland Tunnel on the west side to the Williamsburg and Manhattan bridges to the east. The road would have required the leveling of parts of the Little Italy and SoHo neighborhoods. The LOMEX was originally conceived by Robert Moses in 1941, but further development of the project was delayed until the early 1960s. It was cancelled in 1962 in the face of widespread community opposition to the road. Members of the affected communities, led by community activist Jane Jacobs, banded together to fight the proposed LOMEX. They held rallies, staged demonstrations and attended hearings to block the project at every step of the process. On December 11, 1962, there was a stormy six-hour-long special executive session of the New York City Board of Estimate on the second floor of New York City Hall, where city officials voted unanimously to block the planned expressway. Assemblyman Louis DeSalvio said in a speech:
Except for one old man [reference to Robert Moses], I’ve been unable to find anyone of technical competence who is for this so-called expressway. And this old man is a cantankerous, stubborn old man who has done many things which may have, in their time, been good for New York City. But I think it is time for this stubborn old man to realize that too many of his dreams turn out to be nightmares for the city. And this board must realize that if it does not kill this stupid example of bad city planning, that the stench of it will haunt them and this great city for many years to come.