Mystery Friday Foto #27 Solved: The Motor Parkway Bridge over the Northern State Pkwy Under Construction
Did you guess the Moses Motor Pkwy bridge under construction in this photo?
Identify;
- The structure under construction and the process of the construction
Construction of the Moses-built Long Island Motor Parkway Bridge over the Northern State Parkway. See construction technique below. A worker's vehicle has just fallen over the edge with the tow truck driver looking on to access the situation.
- Orientation of the photographer
Photographer is standing on the north side of the Northern State Parkway construction looking east southeast.
- Roadway(s) in the photo
The metal rebar is the beginning of the archway of the Moses-built Motor Parkway bridge over the Northern State Parkway with a car traveling northward on the Motor Parkway after just going over the Marcus Ave. Motor Parkway Bridge in the background.
- Year
1932
Congrats to Frank Femenias, Art Kleiner and Steve Lucas for identifying the area of the Lakeville Rd and Motor Parkway Moses-built bridges for the Northern State Parkway in Lake Success.
Greg O.
This photo displays the technique of building a new bridge without affecting traffic flow on the Motor Parkway.
The Northern State was dug below grade in many areas to smooth out the grade of the road. As the Northern State came to the Motor Parkway digging stopped and the new bridge for the Motor Parkway over the Northern State was built. The Motor Parkway is seen in the background at the original grade of the area which gives the viewer an idea of how much below the original grade the new Parkway was built below it. Once the new Moses-built bridge was complete, the Motor Parkway traffic was finally re-aligned to cross over the new, permanent Moses bridge over the new parkway. The Motor Parkway traffic was never impacted by the Northern State construction.
The same was done at the nearby Lakeville Road bridge, and the new Motor Parkway bridge near New Hyde Park Road.
While I'm usually not a fan of A.I. or colorized photos, I did run this one through A.I. The colorization did provide an interesting effect.
Comments
Robert Moses at work during the Great Depression in the early 1930s. Construction for Lakeville Road’s stone-arch bridge is underway. In the distance is Motor Parkway at grade level just 230 ft to the west. Motor Pkwy will get its own bridge as well. Northern State Parkway will be paved below grade after completion of the bridges. The photo year is just before 1933.
Lakeville Road Motor Parkway Bridge - the circular structure was used to form the curvature of the bridge. A crane was used to lift material into place.
The photo is the bridge west of Lakeville Road.
Lakeville Road
1931
Revised answer: Roadways - Northern State Parkway with the Motor Parkway in the background.
I think we’re looking east in Lake Success during the construction of a bridge that would allow the LIMP to go over the Northern State Parkway. The existing road with the white guardrails should be Lakeville Road. The year is probably around 1931.
I believe this photo is looking west based on sunlight exposure on the crane operator’s body, as well as the dark shadow below the hoisted vehicle. I believe we’re truly looking west.
Every time I drive by, I picture that car buried next to that bridge.