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Clearview Expwy. Northbound at LIE Exit Photo Gallery: Clearview Expwy |
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The Clearview hasn't got too many exits, thanks to neighborhood
community groups in southeastern Queens. This is one of it's biggest.
The Long Island Expwy (LIE) east of this exit, was not officially
"I-495", until the 80's.
The Clearview, which is I-295, was not I-295 until the 70's. I-78
and NY-24's loss, was I-95's gain. The best histories on these
two highways is neither here, nor in any book, but on Steve
Anderson's website. Check it out.
Does anyone wish to venture a guess about where the Clearview
got it's name. Every other NY superhighway is named either for
a famous New Yorker, a borough, or a sensible description of it's
purpose (ie: the Cross Island literally crosses the island. The
Belt does actually form a Belt and was originally monikered the
Shore, which it straddles for most of it's mileage. Van Wyck was
a mayor. Bruckner & Deegan must've done something right, to
get their own expressways. But who or what was the Clearview?)
Is it because it's route is so straight that one has a clear view
from one end to the other? Can't be that, since many hills prevent
such a sweeping vista.
 I've always
liked the Clearview, ever since I was a kid. It was the last
NYC expressway fitted with cuplights, yet the first to get the
long trussed crookarm poles that I tend to refer to as "Worlds
Fair Era". The upward angle of the mast arm, where the cuplights
were attached, always made the cups look snooty. |
The Clearview and the LIE east of it, had mercury vapor
cups, whereas the LIE west of it had bland old incandescents.
I thought the name of the bridge the CV went into, Throgs Neck,
was hysterically funny (I was only 6 or 7). Of course I went years
thinking it was Frogs Neck.
During my most formative years, the Whitestone Bridge was beset
with major construction, so my parents took to using the CV and
Throgs to get to the Bronx, where we often visited relatives.
As I got older and my family reverted back to the Whitestone,
I rarely got to see the CV, or Throgs Neck, so both took on a
mysterious charm to me.
Today, I live practically next door to it. It still retains most
of it's original truss arm poles, a feat the nearby Grand Central
can't even do for 3rd generation replacements. The CV is also
the NYC highway least likely to have a major traffic jam. If it's
construction had begun only a handful of years earlier, the CV
would've been the jumping off point for a nationwide I-78. Woulda-coulda-shoulda.
It remains probably one of the shortest interstates in the nation,
but it's my favorite.
