Through 5/15: Robert Moses and LOMEX exhibition

Exhibition Dates: May 9-15
Gallery Hours: Mon-Thurs, 11AM – 8PM; Fri-Sun, 12PM-9PM.

First opening in Fall 2015, a special condensed exhibit of “In the Shadow of the Highway: Robert Moses Expressway and the Battle for Downtown” returns to Lower East Side History Month, presented by NYC Department of Records, in association with miLES and FABnyc.

This exhibit is a collaboration with Below the Grid Lab and the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU, focusing on the architectural, political, and personal, aspects that arose with the proposed Lower Manhattan Expressway (LOMEX).

The Lower Manhattan Expressway (LOMEX) was first proposed in 1929 as a small part of a plan to build highways throughout the region, then included in a 1941 National Defense proposal drafted by Robert Moses, it was envisioned as a key connection between Long Island and the interstate system. This 10-lane expressway, would cut across the heart of Lower Manhattan and stretched from the Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges to the Holland Tunnel, rising over Broome Street.

In 1962, the NYC Board of Estimate decided not to relocate neighborhood residents to build LOMEX. The expressway was ultimately de-mapped in 1969 due to activism and advocacy on the part of neighborhood residents.

Learn more about this project at miLES pop-up community space at 103 Allen Street!

Join us for our opening reception on May 10th, and a soft closing on May 14th, as well as tours lead by curator Noah Fuller over the weekend. Stay tuned for details.