Raiders of Lost Underpass
Twenty-five members of the Long Island Motor Parkway Preservation Society and Motor Parkway East met up for an unofficial exploration of the newly discovered Union Turnpike/Motor Parkway Pedestrian Underpass last Saturday.
Below photos courtesy of Bruce and Howard.
Enjoy,
Howard Kroplick
Indiana Adams shows the entrance to the Motor Parkway "Temple of Doom".
Howard and Al provided a brief history of pedestrain underpass.
Ruth brought along her Motor Parkway "E-Z" pass.
From left to right: George (who rediscovered the underpass), Al, Howard and Joby.
Comments
Looks like great fun. Sorry I missed this.
Howard, are both sides still in existence and can you walk thru to the other side?
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From Howard Kroplick:
Michael, the underpass is completely intact but closed off in the north by a door and a gated top on the south.
So when you went down the steps were you able to open the door? Did anyone go in? Did you go over to the south side?
Did you find any other LIMP relevant items at the facility in general while there?
I was thinking on the south side of Union Tpk where the original LIMP was there might be some road remnants/posts in the weeds/trees that are near the south tunnel entry. I’ll have to investigate further one day.
Sorry we couldn’t be with you for this….kids schedules these days never end!!!
Dave - No tunnel access yet, waiting for further approval from Albany. The rusty chain was still in place at the door. Luckily Steve had a ladder and were able to see across to the south side using flashlights through the top opening. Daylight from the south grate at the other end helped to determine distance. The echo in the tunnel was drawn-out and annoying. Also inoperative recessed lighting in the tunnel’s concrete walls. I was surprised to see those.
I wish I could have been there as well but was out in Chicago at a National Board of Directors meeting of the Classic Car Club of America. I hope you are able to visit this site again and get possible favorable approval from Albany. Is there any way readers of this can contact anyone in Albany to urge them to allow the LIMP Society to see some restoration of this site? Let us know. Thanks, especially to George who rediscovered this.
Wonderful post! I have first-hand memories of it being a fad to walk through that long passage (circa early 70s as I recall). Although I couldn’t find any articles in the several news archives I searched, I believe rising crime and a failure of the underground lighting system made things really scary and unsafe and led to the closing of the underpass.
At a time when Vision Zero is being pushed so hard, one has to wonder why this pedestrian underpass was abandoned and locked up - and whether any viable use could be made of it today.
David Stephan - I had suspected exactly the same, living in Queens myself. Up to some point around 2004?, it was still being used by patients/nurses during daylight hours, before being permanently shut down. Hope to film this “LIMP remnant” walk-through some day. Brian McCarthy had brought up a good question as to how long the tunnel is. My findings measure it as 220 feet (67meters).