Proposed LOMEX History
The proposed Lower Manhattan Expressway, LOMEX, was a planned elevated highway promoted by Robert Moses to connect the Holland Tunnel with the Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges through Lower Manhattan. Proposed during the mid-20th century, the project would have cut through neighborhoods such as SoHo, Little Italy, and parts of Greenwich Village, requiring the demolition of homes, businesses, and industrial buildings. Supporters argued the expressway would reduce traffic congestion and improve automobile transportation across New York City. However, strong opposition from residents, activists, and urban critics such as Jane Jacobs led to the project’s cancellation in 1969.
Timeline
1929: Regional Plan Association (RPA) proposes the Metropolitan Loop Highway.
1946: Lower Manhattan Crosstown Expressway was announced by City Construction Commissioner Robert Moses and Borough President Hugo E. Rogers of Manhattan.
1959-1960: In 1959 the plan was submitted for approved and approved in 1960 by the New York City Planning Commission.
1962: Jane Jacobs chaired the Joint Committee to Stop the Lower Manhattan Expressway. Formal protests and organized resistance grow in areas like Greenwich Village, SoHo, Little Italy, Chinatown, and Lower East Side.
1965: The Lower Manhattan Expressway was a pivotal argument in New York City mayoral election.
1966: Moses was removed as arterial highway coordinator.
1968: Jacobs arrested for inciting a riot at a public hearing.
1969: The New York City Board of Estimate demapped the project.
Memo from W.M. Donoghue to Moses on Jane Jacobs, 1963
Moses papers. Manuscripts and Archives Division. The New York Public Library. Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations.
The memo from W.M. Donoghue to Robert Moses shows that Moses viewed Jane Jacobs as a serious political threat. By requesting detailed information on her background, writings, and activism from Donoghue, a New York Journal reporter, Moses demonstrated how closely he monitored Jacobs’s growing influence on public opinion and urban planning debates. The memo also reflects how important Jacobs had become in challenging Moses’s redevelopment agenda.
This is in contrast to Lillian Edelstein, who organized protest against the Cross-Bronx Expressway with little attention from Moses and the media.
Media Coverage
Source: The New York Times,” Expressway Plan Goes to O’Dwyer,” October 1946.
N.Y. Daily News, “Fish or Cut Bait,” February 1964.
Source: Robert Moses papers
Digitized: The New York Times, “Mrs. Jacob’s Protest Results in Riot Charge,” April 1968.
Source: Association of Village Homeowners records
Source: Association of Village Homeowners records
Media coverage of the proposed Lower Manhattan Expressway shifted over time from supporting urban modernization to focusing on political conflict and public opposition. Early articles presented the expressway as a necessary solution to traffic congestion, while later coverage highlighted protests, legal disputes, and activism. These reports show how the project became a major public controversy and reflected growing resistance to top-down urban planning in New York City.
In contrast, media coverage of protests against the Cross-Bronx Expressway were generally limited and framed the project as a necessary infrastructure improvement despite local resistance.
Air and Noise Pollution Reports
Association of Village Homeowners records. Manuscripts and Archives Division. The New York Public Library.
“Norman Cousins, of Mayor John V. Lindsay’s task force on air pollution states: ‘New York could become UNINHABITABLE within a decade unless efforts to combat AIR POLLUTION are not pressed more vigorously.’ “
“Noise pollution from TRAFFIC befouls neighborhoods with honking, screeches, grinding, roaring blasts that assail our ears – a peril to the hearing and emotional stability of city dwellers. This ‘annoyance is now considered just as great a menace to health.’ “
“New Yorkers now pay more than TWO BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR for medical care, drugs, cleaning, painting, air filtering, soundproofing, extra electricity, property damage and deterioration – because of AIR AND NOISE POLLUTION – some with their very LIVES! TO COMBAT POLLUTION – TRAFFIC FLOW must be planned and re-routed AWAR FROM DENSELY-POPULATED NEIGHBORHOODS.”
“Urgency of action is now absolutely essentual for the health, safety, and survival of ALL RESIDENTS in our historic Greenwich Village.”
“SULPHUR DIOXIDE from exhaust.. Combines with moisture to form dilute sulphuric acid mist. Causes choking, enables CARBON particles lodged in upper respiratory tract to penetrate deeper into lungs.”
“In the midst of noisy environment the city dwellers’ nightmare-body reflex effects constriction of muscles, contraction of blood vessels, occurring with equal intensity DURING SLEEP. Adrenalin released into blood stream causing nervousness, tension, and mounting feeling of anger and frustration.”
In 2024, results from the Reimagine the Cross Bronx study were released and showed significant health impacts caused by air and noise pollution.