Van Wyck Expwy at Liberty Avenue - May-June 2001
Photo Gallery: Van Wyck Expwy.

Two shots facing south from Liberty Avenue. Airtrain construction has given old Wyckie a center median worthy of holding a park. Would have been far better had it held subway tracks. For the most part it holds the heavy equipment that drives the surrounding homeowners batty and cracks their walls. The actual Airtrain trackbed works its way south from Atlantic and north, at this point, from 109th Avenue. They will probably meet at Liberty for the big connection celebration before long.

Heard of This Old House? How about this old church. At times I walk by it and do a double take, thinking it abandoned, but it is still very much in use, although I imagine by a shoestring and threadbare congregation. Nonetheless, the message given within doesn't need fancy finery to get where it has to go. It was probably considered spartan and modernistically functional in its design way back when, but as we cruise through the Zeroes of a new century and millenium, it sure looks ancient now. You have to really cruise the back streets of this city to find wooden churches like this now. I doubt there are many. Motorists headed for Aqueduct Racetrack are encouraged already to get the @#$% off the Van Wyck and leave everyone else alone. The directional dunning them 3 exits in advance of their natural destination, the Belt Pkwy, suggests each of those three as possible egress points. Why doesn't the Van Wyck like gamblers?

Taking a peek at the northbound lanes from their service road. Traffic was heavy in both directions, but moving at a reasonable clip on May 28th, 2001, when all the above were shot digitally. Below, the same scene in reverse from below, facing south towards the Liberty overpass a couple of weeks into June.

© 2001, Jeff Saltzman. All rights reserved.