Kleiner’s Korner: The Demise of the Motor Parkway Bridges in Levittown
In the late 1940s Nassau County determined several Motor Parkway bridges still in existence were unsafe and developed plans to eliminate them. Several bridges in Levittown were included in these plans.
Sources are the Nassau County Dept. of Public Works, The Nassau Daily Review Star and the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
Art Kleiner
This 1939 map showed the Motor Parkway roadway and bridges impacted by the plans developed by Nassau County. Note the areas to be retained by the county, the Motor Parkway bridges, the area sold to LILCO (Long Island Lighting Company) and the Long Island Aviation Club.
The county decided in 1947 to encircle what would become the Salisbury (Eisenhower) Park golf courses with a fence to stop walk-ins from using the courses without registering (and paying).
Part of the project involved the removal of the Stewart Ave., Carmen Ave. and Newbridge Rd. Motor Parkway bridges and improving the Parkway itself to take the place of the roadway being refurbished.
Fencing surrounding the park. Note the concrete posts bordering the parkway ROW.
A more current view - where did all the posts go?
Three historical makers denoting the parkway have been placed along Salisbury Park Road bordering the park keeping the parkway's heritage alive.
Newbridge Road Bridge
The Newbridge Rd. bridge during its 1948 demolition. Note the sentence indicting the swapping of land between Nassau County and home builder Levitt & Sons.
Dept. of Public Works demolition plans.
The New York State Dept. of Public Works auctioned off 25 tons of steel from the Newbridge Rd. bridge girders in 1948. Would be very interesting to know who purchased the steel and for what it would eventually be used!
Jerusalem Avenue Bridge
One more bridge slated for demolition in 1949.
1938
1939
Comments
Always like when you post about this time period, Art. The main roads were about the width of my driveway back then, 20 ft. Remember your coverage of the Westbury Ave or Rd Pkwy Bridge, which hung around until the mid 1950’s.
Great post Art. Having grown up just a quarter of a mile from the Newbridge Road bridge site this is some nostalgia for me. I know you lived just minutes away from there before your move to North Carolina. I found a parkway concrete property post in the woods next to Salisbury Park Drive several years ago and it now resides my garden behind my garage.
These posts are always so fascinating to me. Thank you for posting these. I grew up on Crabtree lane in Levittown not too far from the Newbridge road crossing. Its interesting how the Motor Parkway was broken up and sold throughout this area. Salisbury Park drive in sections became an “improved” portion of the former LIMP. Sections in Levittown sold to Levitt had no rhyme or reason to each other. Houses built over the right of way from Newbridge to Orchid pretty much follows the backyards of Carnation rd. Pintail to Bloomingdale was left open. And from Bloomingdale to Wantagh ave it was completely built over with no trace of the right of way at all.
Thanks for the comments all! I believe I became interested in researching the Motor Parkway back in late 2003 (wow, 20 years already!) after reading an article about it being located near my home, which as Mike indicates, was very close to the roadway in Levittown. Mike - I often wondered what happened to those posts off of Salisbury Park Drive! Like you I have a post (and a piece) of roadway next to my house in NC! And I left a few posts and roadway pieces in back of my shed up north since my wife didn’t agree they would go with our decor in our backyard in NC! Wonder if they are still up there in Levittown!
Mike - here’s the link to my webpage about Salisbury Park Drive showing the posts that were there back to 2004. I believe I may have walked the area within the last 2 years but don’t remember seeing any posts left. If you can’t open the link let me know - the original service which hosted the site was sold and the new service did some tweaking may have have caused a problem. I haven’t updated my site in a quite a while since I couldn’t keep up with vanderbiltcupraces.com! lol
https://www.limparkway.webs.com/levittown-salisbury-pk—dr
Thanks for the link Art. I was able to open it and it’s indeed the area in which I found my post about 8-10 years ago. In about 1965-1966 me and a friend would bike along the sidewalk that runs alongside the road. We would find many pieces of coal and parts of railroad ties from the Central Branch of the LIRR in these woods in your pictures. At that time we had no idea about the history made here. Hope to see you next time you visit Long Island.
David- I also grew up on Crabtree Lane in Levittown from 1954 until 1974. I didn’t know you but I assume you lived there after I moved to Suffolk County. Quite a coincidence! It was always a great neighborhood and I drive down Crabtree whenever I’m in the area.
Mike- The last name Cain does sound familiar. You might’ve went to Division ave High School with my father, Bruce Miller.