Although intended for pleasure vehicles, the roadway quickly turned into a busy commuter thoroughfare. Along with the increased number of motorists came other problems. Since the BPC had made much of its efforts to restore the Bronx River’s pristine appearance, parkway managers were particularly troubled by the amount of trash motorists were leaving throughout the reservation. The WCPC employed four men to clear roadside litter, which included newspaper, boxes, magazines, letters, and liquor bottles. Local newspapers reported that businessmen would open their morning mail while driving to work, strewing advertisements, envelopes and small bits of paper across the landscape. A newspaper editorial accused commuting businessmen of causing more damage to Westchester’s beautiful roads than graffiti artists and their more permanent forms of desecration. One policeman tried to correct the situation by pursuing an offender and escorting him back to pick up the litter he had scattered at frequent intervals.(285)

Finishing Touches

When the BPC completed its work in 1925, it had approved grade separations for East 233rd Street in the Bronx and Fenimore Road in Scarsdale. Within the first few years of operation, the WCPC also studied the need for grade separations at Cemetery Road and White Plains Road in North White Plains. Designs were prepared for an undercrossing at Yonkers Avenue, which had also been studied by the BPC. The Yonkers Avenue Bridge was opened to traffic by mid 1927. The Fenimore Bridge, which the WCPC considered one of its most important construction programs for 1927, was also completed that year.(286) Two other grade separation projects were designed and built by the Borough of the Bronx at the end of the 1920s.

In October 1924, the BPC had noted that the East 233rd street crossing was already subject to heavy traffic. The commission ordered Holleran to study the possibility for building a grade-separation structure to relieve the problem. The smooth flow of traffic was also hampered by a "missing link" in the parkway drive at East 233rd Street. The drive north of East 233rd Street ran along the west side of the parkway reservation. South of this intersection, the drive ran along the east side. In order to cross from one section to the next, motorists used East 233rd Street, which was a busy crosstown highway. Northbound motorists had to ascend a grade, make a sharp left turn across heavy traffic onto East 233rd Street, drive 500’ before making a sharp right turn back onto the parkway drive. Southbound motorists faced similar obstacles, which included a particularly bad approach to East 233rd Street. Up to 12,000 vehicles passed through the area during a twelve-hour period.(287)


 

(285)"Says Motorists Litter Parkways," Bronxville Press, October 3, 1930; "Love Letters and Monthly Bills, Torn by Speeding Motorists, Strew Parkway," [White Plains Press], May 3, 1929; "The Litter-ary Trail," Mamaroneck Times, May 4, 1929; "The Cost of Trifles," Ossining Citizen Sentinal, May 4, 1929.
(286)Westchester County Park Commission, Report, 1926, 51-52; WCPC, Report, 1927, 58; WCPC, Report, 1928, 63.
(287)Bronx Parkway Commission, Minutes, October 28, 1924, 163-65; Arthur V. Sheridan, "Bronx River Parkway Drive Completed," Civil Engineering, 3, no. 12 (December 1933): 676.

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