Westway plan

The state requested the Federal Government to include the West Side Highway in the Interstate Highway System. 

After part of the West Side Highway collapsed in 1973, planners proposed five alternatives, including the controversial underground Westway project. While environmental and local groups opposed it, the business sector supported it. By late 1974, Mayor Beame and Governor-elect Carey backed Westway, though Congressman Edward Koch remained opposed. As mayor in 1978, Koch agreed to support the project if the state maintained the 50-cent subway fare through 1982. When fares rose in 1980, Koch reconsidered his position, prompting urgent negotiations with Carey’s team to secure federal funding.

On Labor Day, President Reagan visited New York City to present an $85 million check to launch the Westway project. Calling it a victory over bureaucracy, he criticized the decade-long delays and praised the project’s restart as a symbol of cutting red tape and delivering on promises.

The death of the Westway project was seen by some as the end of New York’s era of grand public works. But planners and officials argued it didn’t signal a broader decline—just a shift toward more legal oversight and political caution. Despite its 15-year run and $200 million cost, Westway left lasting lessons in planning, law, and civic activism. For critics like Marcy Benstock, its defeat was less about policy and more about the power of law to shape the city’s future.