Skip to main content

A Day in New York: The Biggest Road Map Ever!

By

The NY State Pavilion

22nd April 2014 was the 50th Anniversary of the opening of the 1964-65 World's Fair in what's now known as Flushing Meadows Corona Park. There has been an active effort to restore the New York State Pavilion. It's an iconic structure, and has the potential to be a great attraction. I'm not just talking out of my hat here: Today's viewing event drew thousands. One of the organisers said they expected like 800 people to show up. My DP and I went-and we got there early- the event started at 11.00am, and we got there at 10, and the line was incredible even then:  we waited on line to get a number for two hours and another hour and a half to get our number called. We left the park at 3.00 pm, and one of my friends from a band said he had gotten his number, and was waiting to get in and wondered if we were still about. This was at 4 pm.

One of the features of the Pavilion is that the floor is a giant NY State roadmap by Rand McNally, and sponsored by Texaco. Sadly, with the neglect of the pavilion, and due to the construction of the map(Terrazo on plywood on sand), the map has deteriorated pretty badly. New York State Pavilion Paint Project has taken steps to prevent further damage to the map by covering it with sand and gravel. Part of the map was taken up and put in storage-the tiles covering eastern Long Island.

Part of today's event featured a display of four of the tiles:





The eventual plan is to restore all of the map(and the rest of the pavilion).

One of the features of Flushing Meadows Corona Park is that it's bounded by the Grand Central Parkway and the Van Wyck Expressway, as well as bisected by the Long Island Expressway, giving the Roads Scholar opportunity to get some decent shots of these roads on foot.


Grand Central Pkwy looking north:
BJK is for Billie Jean King.


Long Island Expressway at the Van Wyck.





Labels:
Location: Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, NY, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

California State Route 232

By
This past month I drove the entirety of California State Route 232 in Ventura County. CA 232 is an approximately 4 miles State Highway aligned on Vineland Avenye which begins near Saticoy at CA 118 and traverses southwest to US Route 101 in Oxnard.  The alignment of CA 232 was first adopted into the State Highway System in 1933 as Legislative Route Number 154 according to CAhighways.org. CAhighways.org on LRN 154 As originally defined LRN 154 was aligned from LRN 9 (future CA 118) southwest to LRN 2/US 101 in El Rio.  This configuration of LRN 154 between CA 118/LRN 9 and US 101/LRN 2 can be seen on the 1935 California Division of Highways Map of Ventura County. 1935 Ventura County Highway Map According to CAhighways.org the route of LRN 154 was extended west from US 101/LRN 2 to US 101A/LRN 60 in 1951.  Unfortunately State Highway Maps do not show this extension due to it being extremely small. During the 1964 State Highway Renumbering LRN 154 was assigned CA 232.  Of n
Post a Comment
Read more

One Long Drive - Allegheny County's Orange Belt

By
When I trace my early interest in traveling and the hobby of roadgeeking, I always go back to where I grew up. Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA 48, and the Orange Belt. I grew up on Route 48 in Elizabeth Township on the Orange Belt. One of my family's favorite stories of me growing up is when I was around three years old - so 1980 - I told one of my aunts, "It's not that hard to get to our house - we live on the Orange Belt!"  The Allegheny County Belt System is one of the many things that are uniquely Pittsburgh. A series of existing roadways - minor and major - developed in post-World War II Allegheny County to navigate the region. Never intended to be a "beltway" in the modern sense - a full freeway encircling a city - the Allegheny County system is more like a wayfinding system connecting you throughout the county. It is uniquely Pittsburgh - it's been asked about , written about , and videoed .  On a recent visit home, I decided to drive the entire
3 comments
Read more

Mosquito Road Bridge

By
The Mosquito Road Bridge is a wooden suspension span crossing the South Fork American River of El Dorado County.  The Mosquito Road Bridge incorporates elements in it's foundation which date back to 1867 making it likely the oldest highway bridge in California still is in service for it's original purpose.  The Mosquito Road Bridge can be found approximately 6.5 miles northeast of downtown Placerville.    Author's Note; Gribblenation's 2,000th published blog This blog serves as the 2,000th published entry on the Gribblenation blog site.  Ironically the the 2,000th blog entry closely aligns with the 20th anniversary of Gribblenation.  Adam and Doug recently discussed the history of Gribblenation on the Gribblenation 20th Anniversary Podcast: https://anchor.fm/gribblenation/episodes/Gribblenation-20th-Anniversary-Podcast-ep2nh8 For my own part I (Tom) have been part of Gribblenation since late 2016, it has been an honor to be part of one of the longest lived highway pages
Post a Comment
Read more