page_title: Harlem River Drive
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Harlem River Drive / History
caption_attribution_description: Harlem River Speedway (1903)
context_page_description: The Harlem River Drive is a 4.20-mile long north–south parkway in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It runs along the west bank of the Harlem River from the Triborough Bridge in East Harlem to 10th Avenue in Inwood, where the parkway ends and the road continues north as Dyckman Street. The portion of the Harlem River Drive from the Triborough Bridge to the Alexander Hamilton Bridge is a limited-access highway. South of the Triborough Bridge, the parkway continues toward lower Manhattan as FDR Drive. All of the Harlem River Drive is designated New York State Route 907P, an unsigned reference route.
  The parkway north of 165th Street was originally part of the Harlem River Speedway, a horse carriage roadway opened in 1898. The rest of the parkway from 125th to 165th Streets opened to traffic in stages from 1951 to 1962. The parkway's ceremonial designation, 369th Harlem Hellfighters Drive, is in honor of the 369th Infantry Regiment, also known as the Harlem Hellfighters.
context_section_description: The Drive originated as the Harlem River Speedway, which started construction in 1894 and opened in July 1898. Originally, the Speedway was for the exclusive use of horse-drawn carriages and those on horseback; bicyclists were specifically excluded, as were sulkies and drays. The Speedway ran from West 155th Street to Dyckman Street, and soon became a tourist destination, where visitors watched carriage races and boat races on the river.  Rich New Yorkers used the Speedway to train their horses and size up those of their friends and competitors. In 1919, motorists were allowed on the Speedway, but for normal driving purposes. The route was paved in 1922, and officially renamed the Harlem River Driveway.
  In 1939, Manhattan Borough President Stanley M. Isaacs unveiled plans to build Harlem River Drive, which was planned as a four-lane road linking the Harlem River Speedway and the East River (now FDR) Drive north of East 125th Street. The initial section of the drive would stretch from 125th to 165th Streets, near where it merged into the speedway. Traffic from the Triborough Bridge and the several Harlem River bridges joining the Major Deegan Expressway in the Bronx would feed into the drive. Harlem River Drive would also contain playgrounds and parks along its route, similar to those on the East River Drive, There would be a service road abutting the drive's west side. Sections of the old speedway in the path of the highway would incorporated into the new highway. There would also be new ramps from the speedway section to the then-newly built George Washington Bridge.
  The cost of the Harlem River Drive was originally estimated at over $18 million, of which $11 million was used to build the highway itself and nearly $7 million in acquired lands. However, there were some disagreements during the planning of the new highway, and by 1946, the cost had increased to $26 million.
  The modern Harlem River Drive was completed in segments during the 1950s and early 1960s. The segment connecting the Speedway to Eighth Avenue, which ended at 159th Street, was completed in 1951. The highway from 125th Street and First Avenue to 132nd Street and Park Avenue opened in 1958, connecting three of the Harlem River bridges. Another section between 142nd and 161st Streets opened in 1960, and an extension south to 132nd Street opened two years later, closing the gap between the two sections. In 1964, shortly after the drive's completion, the entire drive was widened to six lanes.
  In 2003, the New York State Department of Transportation ceremonially designated the parkway as the "369th Harlem Hellfighters Drive" in honor of the all-black regiment that fought to defend France during World War I.
  Founded in 2010, the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway runs between the river and the drive, from 155th to Dyckman Streets, in a portion of Highbridge Park which had been abandoned and fenced off approximately half a century.
caption: The Harlem River Speedway in 1903
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