Harlem River Drive

Harlem River Drive
Reference Route 907P
Length:	4.20 mi[1] (6.76 km)
Formed:	1964[citation needed]
South end:	FDR Drive in East Harlem
Major junctions:	I-95 / US 1 near Washington Heights
North end:	10th Avenue / Dyckman Street in Inwood
Counties:	New York
Numbered highways in New York Interstate – U.S. – N.Y. (former) – Reference

The Harlem River Drive is a north–south parkway in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It runs along the west bank of the Harlem River from the Triborough Bridge in East Harlem to 10th Avenue in Inwood, where the parkway continues north as Dyckman Street. The portion of the Harlem River Parkway from the Triborough Bridge to the Alexander Hamilton Bridge is a limited-access highway. South of the Triborough Bridge, the parkway continues toward lower Manhattan as FDR Drive.

The parkway opened to traffic in 1964. In 2003, the New York State Department of Transportation ceremoniously designated the parkway as the "369th Harlem Hellfighters Drive" in honor of the all-black regiment that fought to defend France during World War I.

History

Looking north from head of Fifth Avenue

The Drive originated as the Harlem River Speedway, which attracted horse owners. Genteel carriages were permitted, but not sulkies and drays in the initial years. Later, car drivers could also race along the stretch of road. The dirt roadway stretched two and one-half miles from West 155th Street to West 208th Street.

Robert Moses envisioned the Harlem River Drive as a six-lane road linking the George Washington Bridge and the East River Drive (now the FDR Drive) north of East 125th Street. Traffic from the Triborough Bridge and the several Harlem River bridges joining the Major Deegan Expressway in the Bronx feed into the Drive. Sections of the old speedway in the path of the highway were incorporated into the new highway. Construction ended in 1964. The route as it stands today is unsigned New York State Reference Route 907P.

Northern terminus of the parkway

A four-lane viaduct rises from the Harlem River Drive to connect to both decks of the George Washington Bridge (via the Trans-Manhattan Expressway and to Amsterdam Avenue in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan. The Harlem River Drive continues north to the Inwood section of Manhattan, where it ends with connections to Tenth Avenue and Dyckman Street.

Starting at the beginning of the 21st century, the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway runs between the river and the drive, from 155th to Dyckman, in a portion of Highbridge Park which had been abandoned and fenced off approximately half a century.^[2]

Exit list

The entire route is in Manhattan (New York County).

Mile[1]	#	Destinations	Notes
0.00		FDR Drive	Continuation past the Triborough Bridge
	17	To I-278 via Triborough Bridge (Harlem River lift bridge)
	18	Willis Avenue Bridge – Mott Haven, The Bronx	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	19	East 127th Street / 1st Avenue	Northbound exit only
		East 128th Street / 2nd Avenue	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
0.68	20	Park Ave	Southbound exit and entrance
0.71	21	East 135th Street / Madison Avenue	Northbound exit only
	22	West 142nd Street / 5th Avenue	No northbound exit
	23	Frederick Douglass Boulevard / West 155th Street	Southbound exit via Harlem River Drive service road
3.23	24	I-95 south (Trans-Manhattan Expressway) / US 1 south	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
Begin at-grade highway northbound and limited-access highway southbound
		Washington Bridge	Access to I-95 north
4.20		10th Avenue
		Dyckman Street	Continuation past 10th Avenue

References

External links

• NYCRoads.com - Harlem River Drive