Vanderbilt Cup Races

Today's Queens edition of the New York Daily News includes an article on Long Island Motor Parkway bridges.  Al Velocci, Lynn Henry, Gaitri Ken, and I were interviewed:

He goes "spanning" the county

By Sam Levin
DAILY NEWS WRITER

Thursday, September 29th 2011, 4:00 AM

A local preservationist is building bridges to the past by recording the history of century-old overpasses on the first automobile highway in the country.

First stop - Fresh Meadows, Queens.

As part of his effort to keep alive the legacy of the Long Island Motor Parkway, Howard Kroplick, 62, has launched a project documenting the bridges along the historic road that once spanned 44 miles from Queens to Suffolk County.

"This is one of the best preserved parts of the whole parkway," said Kroplick on a recent visit to the Queens stretch of the parkway that still stands today as a public park.

"Nobody ever knew how many bridges were actually built," said Kroplick, an East Hills, L.I., resident and the president of the Long Island Motor Parkway Preservation Society.

His new "Bridge Series" project, launched this summer, comes on the heels of a 2008 Arcadia Publishing book he co-authored on the history of the parkway, which began as a private road in 1908.

William K. Vanderbilt Jr., a Long Island auto-racing pioneer who ran the Vanderbilt Cup Races, commissioned the speedway as an exclusive pathway for cars and races.

Today, only seven of the roughly 65 original bridges of the roadway are still standing and five of them are in Queens - around Fresh Meadows, Hollis Hills and Oakland Gardens.

"We have photos, aerial shots, ground images. I figured I'd be the person to document all the bridges," said Kroplick, a marketing executive by trade who is posting weekly photos and write-ups about the bridges on his blog at vanderbiltcupraces.com.

"As time goes by, I think it's important for people to know the history of the area they live in," said Al Velocci, who co-authored "The Long Island Motor Parkway" book with Kroplick.

"It gives you a sense of belonging, an attachment to the community," said Velocci, 80, who grew up in South Jamaica and now lives in New Hyde Park, L.I.

For local civic leaders, the preservation effort supports the roughly 2.5-mile stretch of the Brooklyn-Queens Greenway, from Cunningham Park to Alley Pond Park, which was once part of the parkway.

"It's a hidden oasis in Queens," said Lynn Henry, 61, the membership chairwoman of the Alley Pond Striders, a joggers group. "We take it for granted."

Some Queens runners and cyclists passing the bridges said they weren't even aware of the area's legacy.

"I never knew it was a historic place," said Gaitri Ken, 45, of Queens Village, stretching after a jog. "I enjoy running here. It really is a beautiful place."

Links to related posts on VanderbiltCupRaces.com and the Internet:

Archives: Long Island Motor Parkway Bridge Series

Brooklyn-Queens Greenway Guide (page 61).

Archives: Long Island Motor Parkway- Bridges

Archives: Long Island Motor Parkway Bridges- Queens

Index: Archives on VanderbiltCupRaces.com