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Miller Highway Groundbreaking and Construction, 1929-1930

4,902 views · Published 1 June 2018 · 6:14 · Indexed 8 November 2026

Channel: Speed Graphic Film and Video · 2018 · Autos & Vehicles

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Manhattan's Miller Highway, part of the West Side Highway, ran from 72nd Street to South Ferry before it was closed and torn down in the 1970's and '80's.  If you're my age or older, you may remember driving it, though probably not fondly.  It was narrow and crowded, and the belgian-block paving was slippery when wet.
But once upon a time, the Miller Highway was the way of the future--the city's first elevated highway, lifting automobile traffic above the snarl of traffic on 11th Avenue.
This video is in two parts: the first shows the groundbreaking ceremony for the original stretch of highway, the second actual construction a little less than a year later.

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