Deegan Expressway
The Major William Francis Deegan Expressway (Major Deegan, Deegan) is an 8.5 mile part of Interstate 87 in the New York City borough of The Bronx. The Deegan, as well as I-87 itself, begins at I-278 very close to the Triborough Bridge. Heading north, the Deegan meets with I-95 (Cross Bronx Expressway) and at the Westchester border, I-87 becomes the New York State Thruway.
The Deegan dates back to 1936 when the Regional Planning Association concluded that to relieve NYC's traffic problems, a limited-access, truck-accessable expressway should be built on the west side of the Bronx. This route would connect the brand-new Triborough Bridge to the proposed NYS Thruway. In April, 1939, a 1.5 mile section of the expressway, known as NY-1B, was completed, extending from the bridge to Grand Concourse. The highway was adorned with Whitestone-style lightposts placed every 75 feet of the 6-lane highway, each of which were 12 feet in width. In 1945, constuction-hungry Robert Moses proposed to extend the highway to the proposed Thruway. In 1950, the plan began to come along. The present alignment was opened in 1956 and after upgrades, recieved the I-87 designation two years later.