SINCE 1909, Flatbush Avenue has run in a nearly straight line, with only two major angles, from the Manhattan Bridge to Jamaica Bay, where the Marine Parkway (Gil Hodges) Bridge takes it to Fort Tilden on the Rockaway peninsula. But Flatbush Avenue didn’t originally continue north of Fulton Street. When the Manhattan Bridge was built in the 19-aughts, Flatbush Avenue Extension was constructed at a time when Dobbin was still the best way to get from here to there, and the architects were foresighted because the FAE for decades has given motorists a convenient way to get from Manhattan to downtown Brooklyn. It’s unusual that the Manhattan Bridge does not connect to any expressway or parkway: Robert Moses’ grand dream was to build a Lower Manhattan Expressway to connect the Manhattan Bridge to the Holland Tunnel. His power had diminished somewhat by the 1960s, and community outrage stopped him in this goal.
Moses did manage to tear down a pair of statues sculpted by Daniel Chester French called Miss Brooklyn and Miss Manhattan that could be found on the Brooklyn side until Moses had them removed; but in the mid-2010s, revolving replicas built by artist Brian Tolle were constructed of resin and took their place on a pedestal on the FAE median in 2017. Moses, wherever he is, may also be rotating. The sculptures may be criticized: but I do like their off-white cream or light beige color.
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12/14/25
3 comments
May I correct the statement that “It’s unusual that the Manhattan Bridge does not connect to any expressway or parkway: Robert Moses’ grand dream was to build a Lower Manhattan Expressway to connect the Manhattan Bridge to the Holland Tunnel.”
Accessing the Manhattan Bridge on the Brooklyn side does require navigating some local streets if one is approaching on the southbound Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE). However, drivers on the northbound BQE do have a direct ramp between the BQE and the westbound MB.
Should also note that the Robert Moses-proposed Lower Manhattan Expressway was designed to connect both the Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges to the Holland Tunnel. The highway was roughly a Y-shaped artery, with the two legs of the Y on the right, facing north in the usual way a map is drawn.
So we can assume that not only were the statues removed
but they were also destroyed,right?
The originals are now located at the entrance to the Brooklyn Museum. Daniel Chester French is best known for the sculpture of the seated Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial.