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Looking east from Cross Bay Blvd, atop what was supposed to
be the last overpass in that direction for the never built, post
merger I-78 Bushwick/Cross Brooklyn Expwys. The eastbound lanes
veering off to the right carry the warring Siamese twins joined
at the lanes, the just born, one-way Nassau Expwy and the downgraded
southern half of the former Conduit Blvd, South Conduit Avenue.
Exactly which road are we on? Depends on your interpretation.
The way I see it, from this point on you are on a limited access
arterial and face no more traffic signals until you pass the
airport, unless you get off one of the many ramps reconnecting
you with Conduit, once the Siamese twins actually part company
on an official basis. Just ahead of the white tractor-trailer dominating the center lane is the overpass spanning the Belt Pkwy. Coming towards us are motorists from both North Conduit Avenue and the westbound Belt. Most are immediately headed for East New York, Brooklyn and will soon choose to either continue on Conduit until Atlantic Avenue, or veer off to the more southerly Linden Blvd. |
| The eastbounders prepare to cross over the Belt Pkwy on one of the newer highway overpasses in the Metro NY system. The Nassau is designated NY Route 878. The phantom Cross Brooklyn probably would have been Interstate 878, since the other abortion, the Bushwick would've been the parent I-78. Had I-78 been completed as planned, the parent 2-digit route would have continued along the Nassau until another never built rendevous with an extended Clearview Expwy just east of JFK Airport. I-78 would then have followed the Clearview into the Bronx via the Throggs Neck Bridge and eventually ended at I-95. The more southeastern sections of today's Nassau heading for Atlantic Beach probably would have been relegated to their present NY Route status. If not, the 878 interstate designation would have probably applied as an extension of the Cross Brooklyn route. Another possibility was that the Cross Brooklyn would have carried Interstate 678 and would have passed that designation to the northbound Van Wyck at Kennedy Airport, since today's Van Wyck is so designated. As it stands, it's really ridiculous that the Van Wyck is signed as part of the I-78 family. It should in all fairness be I-695 and the Throggs Neck Expwy presently carrying that number ought to have the same I-295 that its Clearview cousin carries, but these are all arguments for another section. See what the poor South Conduit Avenue has to put up with for much of its existence? |
| The lane coming in from the right just before the crossing of the Belt is from the northbound lanes of Cross Bay Blvd. All shot 10/99, albeit on different days. |
