New York State Route 440 - History

History

NY 440 was initially designated in 1949 as a continuation of New Jersey's Route 440. The route began at the Outerbridge Crossing and ended at the Bayonne Bridge, as it does today; however, the route was originally routed on Drumgoole Boulevard and Richmond Avenue in between the two bridges. In the early 1950s, proposals surfaced for the Willowbrook Parkway, which would extend from Staten Island Marine Park (later Great Kills Park and now part of the Gateway National Recreation Area) on the island's East Shore to the Bayonne Bridge via Egbertville and Bulls Head. A second highway, the West Shore Expressway, was proposed c. 1961. As proposed, it would begin at the Outerbridge Crossing and run along the west shore of Staten Island to meet the Clove Lakes Expressway (I-278) near the Goethals Bridge.

The first section of the Willowbrook Parkway—from I-278 north to modern exit 13—was completed by 1965. A short extension south to Victory Boulevard was opened to traffic by 1968. The highway was also renamed the Willowbrook Expressway by this time. It was never extended past Victory Boulevard as opposition from both local property owners and environmental activists prevented construction of the rest of the highway. Its original route has never been formally demapped, however. NY 440 was realigned to follow the Willowbrook Expressway by 1970.

Drumgoole Boulevard was transformed into a limited-access highway in the late 1960s and early 1970s and renamed the Richmond Parkway (now the Korean War Veterans Parkway) c. 1973; however, NY 440 initially continued to follow the parkway. The segment of the West Shore Expressway southwest of Huguenot Avenue was opened c. 1973 and became part of a realigned NY 440 c. 1974. NY 440 left the expressway at Huguenot Avenue and followed Arthur Kill Road east to Richmond Avenue, where it continued north on its original alignment. The former alignment of NY 440 on the Richmond Parkway was redesignated as Temporary NY 440. When the West Shore Expressway was completed in 1976, the Temporary NY 440 designation was eliminated while NY 440 was shifted westward to follow the West Shore and Clove Lakes Expressways between Huguenot Avenue and the Willowbrook Expressway.

In the mid-1960s, officials in New Jersey and New York considered extending the I-287 designation eastward from its current terminus at the New Jersey Turnpike (I-95) to Staten Island via New Jersey Route 440 and the Richmond Parkway. The idea was scrapped soon afterward. In 1990, the Willowbrook Expressway was renamed the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Expressway in honor of Martin Luther King, the slain civil rights leader. The West Shore Expressway was ceremonially designated the Pearl Harbor Memorial Expressway by New York Governor George Pataki in 1999. However, the expressway's official name did not change.