Pelham Parkway

Route description

Pelham Parkway begins at a cloverleaf interchange with the Bronx River Parkway (exits 7E-W) in the Bronx Park section of the Bronx. West of here, it continues as East Fordham Road, which also carries the US 1 designation. The first 0.18 mi of the Pelham Parkway is co-signed with US 1. At an intersection with Boston Road – named for the Boston Post Road – US 1 turns north and leaves the parkway.

After Stillwell Avenue and leaving Morris Park, the parkway becomes an expressway, crossing over the Northeast Corridor tracks and entering Pelham Bay. It enters a partial cloverleaf interchange with the Hutchinson River Parkway (exit 3). Less than 0.5 mi later, the parkway enters Pelham Bay Park and has another cloverleaf interchange with I-95 (the New England Thruway). This junction serves as the eastern terminus of Pelham Parkway, which continues east into the park as an expressway known as Shore Road.

The speed limit on the parkway is 25 mph between the Bronx River Parkway and Stillwell Avenue (the surface section), and 40 mph between Stillwell Avenue and I-95 (the limited-access section).

Pelham Parkway is maintained by the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT), while the surrounding landscaping and bike path are managed by the New York City Parks Department. The parkway between White Plains Road and Stillwell Avenue has a wide landscaped median between the frontage roads on both sides and the westbound main road. The space between the westbound main and frontage roads on the north side is used as a park, with benches and walking paths.

The parkway also has two bike paths between Boston Road and Stillwell Avenue, one for each direction. These bike paths are part of the larger East Coast Greenway, which connects Maine and Florida.

History

Origins

In the 1870s, landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted envisioned a greenbelt across the Bronx, consisting of parks and parkways that would align with existing geography. However, in 1877, the city declined to act upon his plan. Around the same time, New York Herald editor John Mullaly pushed for the creation of parks in New York City, particularly lauding the Van Cortlandt and Pell families' properties in the western and eastern Bronx respectively. He formed the New York Park Association in November 1881. There were objections to the system, which would apparently be too far from Manhattan, in addition to precluding development on the parks' sites. However, newspapers and prominent lobbyists, who supported such a park system, were able to petition the bill into the New York State Senate, and later, the New York State Assembly (the legislature's lower house).

In June 1884, Governor Grover Cleveland signed the New Parks Act into law, authorizing the creation of the park system. The system consisted of three parkways and six parks, with Bronx Park at the center of the system. Bronx Park was connected to Pelham Bay Park in the east via Pelham Parkway; to Van Cortlandt Park in the northwest via Mosholu Parkway; and to Crotona Park in the south via Crotona Parkway. There were no direct connections to Claremont Park and St. Mary's Park, the other two parks in the system.

Construction, proposed upgrades

The original Pelham Parkway was built in 1911 and opened in 1912 as a small, two-lane road in today's westbound lanes through what was then rural Westchester County. The road had strict building codes, as nobody could build within 150 feet of it.

When New York City boomed after World War I and the Bronx became part of the city and neighborhoods, highways, and parks built up, the Pelham Parkway became a commuter route. Construction on today's Pelham Parkway started in 1935 under parks commissioner Robert Moses and was completed in 1937.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Moses wanted to upgrade the parkway to a freeway and extend it to the Henry Hudson Parkway in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan. It would also connect to proposed limited-access upgrade and extension of the Mosholu Parkway and a large interchange with I-95 and a never built portion of I-895 at the current interchange with I-95 in Pelham Bay. Due to a growing opposition to highway improvements in the city partially fueled by opposition to the construction of the Cross Bronx Expressway, only the section from Shore Road to Stillwell Avenue was upgraded to a freeway.

Present

In 2010, many trees were cut down along the Pelham Parkway so that NYSDOT could install a guardrail in response to an uptick in accidents. While there was local opposition to this, the project was carried out, and the parks department vowed to plant 200 new trees along the parkway.

Major intersections

References

References

1. (July 22, 2015). "2014 Traffic Data Report for New York State". [[New York State Department of Transportation]].
2. "overview map of Pelham Parkway".
3. (1968). "Landscape into cityscape: Frederick Law Olmsted's plans for a greater New York City". Cornell University Press.
4. Gonzalez, Evelyn. (June 5, 2004). "The Bronx". [[Columbia University Press]].
5. Golan, Michael. (1975). "Bronx Parks: A Wonder From the Past". [[The Bronx County Historical Society]].
6. (November 27, 1881). "The Need of More Parks; First Meeting of the New-York Park Association Yesterday.". The New York Times.
7. (1986). "Van Cortlandt Park, Borough of the Bronx: Restoration Master Plan, Part 1". [[New York City Parks Department]], Storch Associates.
8. (March 25, 1884). "The Albany Legislators.; Parks for New-York City—Limiting Mayor Edson's Appointments.". The New York Times.
9. Mullaly, John. (1887). "The New Parks Beyond the Harlem: With Thirty Illustrations and Map. Descriptions of Scenery. Nearly 4,000 Acres of Free Playground for the People". Nabu Press.
10. (January 24, 1884). "Proposed New Parks.". The New York Times.
11. "History of the Pelham Parkway".
12. [http://www.nycroads.com/roads/pelham/ Pelham Parkway; Historic Overview (NYCRoads.com)]
13. (March 4, 1965). "New Bronx Road Urged by Moses". The New York Times.
14. "Bronx Greenbelt: Mosholu and Pelham Parkways".
15. (June 16, 2009). "2008 Traffic Volume Report for New York State". [[New York State Department of Transportation]].