Section
4 of the Cross-Brooklyn Expressway was described as the following, according
to nycroads.com: "From Glenwood Avenue to Van Sinderen Avenue, except in
the vicinity of Ralph Avenue, the expressway would be positioned over the
railroad, which is over the street system and within the railroad right-of-way.
In the interchange area at Ralph Avenue, the expressway would be moved
south of the railroad and lowered to one level above the streets to avoid
very long ramps required if the expressway were continued through the interchange
two levels above the street system."
If this expressway configuration was ever built, it would have been
a total eyesore to the community. The expressway would have hovered
high above an already high viaduct railroad ROW, which itself is twenty
to twenty-five feet above the street system. This are of the Cross-Brooklyn
Expressway would have made the Gowanus expressway look like a work of art!
Looking west
to see how the ROW curves to establish a new direction.
A long
string of parked freight boxcars line the southern portion of the ROW.
Looking
due south, one can see how rural-like this area of the ROW is. Trees,
bushes, and other forms of various plant life add to the bucolic feel.
The LIRR Bay Ridge Branch, and if it were built, the Cross-Brooklyn
Expressway, is not that far away from JFK Airport. The plane, shown
in the background of the picture, illustrates this fact.
Further
along the route, we see where the two track configuration begins.
-->> Click Here to Continue Along Section
4 of the CBE!