Interstate 295 (New York)

The Clearview Expressway and Cross Bronx Expressway Extension were proposed in 1955 by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) and Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (TBTA) as part of the PANYNJ's Joint Study of Arterial Facilities, in order to connect with the planned Throgs Neck Bridge. The Cross Bronx Expressway Extension was planned to connect the bridge to several highways at the Bruckner Circle (now the Bruckner Interchange), while the Clearview Expressway was intended to connect with Horace Harding Boulevard (later the Long Island Expressway) in order to serve motorists from Long Island.[8][9][10]

A 1964 highway map showing the completed section of the Clearview Expressway (green) and the unbuilt extension to the Nassau Expressway (red).

Initially, the Clearview Expressway was intended to run along the existing right-of-ways of Utopia Parkway and Francis Lewis Boulevard.[8][9][11] An alternate proposed routing would have run along Little Neck Bay and through Alley Pond Park, essentially parallel to the Cross Island Parkway.[12] By September 1956, the Clearview Expressway was mapped along 206th and 207th streets and Hollis Court Boulevard, east of Francis Lewis Boulevard, after community opposition.[11][13][14][15] The reroute reduced the number of properties to be demolished or relocated from 860 to 421. An information center was set up by the TBTA for local residents displaced by the expressway.[11][13][16]

The planning of the Clearview Expressway route by Robert Moses is documented in Robert Caro's biography of Moses, The Power Broker. A passage describes Moses and TBTA officials surveying potential routes for the highway in Queens, accidentally coming across protesters against the expressway. Caro writes that rather than being deterred by the protests, Moses "laughed and laughed" according to one aide's account.[17][18]

Construction on the Clearview Expressway and Throgs Neck Bridge began in September 1957.[19][20][21] As part of the project, land was taken from Clearview Park, the defunct Bayside Golf Course, and Cunningham Park.[20][21][22][23] Meanwhile, hundreds of homes were physically relocated from the path of the expressway. Many of these houses were placed in planned communities built on the sites of the Bayside Golf Course and the Oakland Country Club in Oakland Gardens.[13][24] The Cross Bronx Expressway Extension, the Throgs Neck Bridge, and the portion of the Clearview Expressway north of 73rd Avenue in Queens were opened on January 11, 1961.[25][26]

An extension of the Clearview south to Hillside Avenue (now NY 25) was opened to traffic on August 12, 1963.[27] It was the first of several highways built to serve the 1964 New York World's Fair.[28] Because of the steep hill at the end of the expressway leading to Hillside Avenue, the junction quickly became a frequent spot for accidents. This led to the implementation of a 40-mile-per-hour (64 km/h) speed limit at the end of the highway, which remains in effect.[29] This section of the route is a notorious speed trap. The modern Bruckner Interchange was opened on January 4, 1972.[30]

The Cross Bronx Expressway Extension and the Clearview Expressway were originally designated as part of I-78,[28][31][32] which was to continue south from Hillside Avenue through southeast Queens, and west across Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan to the Holland Tunnel. Under these plans, the Clearview would have been extended south to NY 27 (Conduit Avenue) and the Belt Parkway, or to the Nassau Expressway and Rockaway Boulevard, in Laurelton near John F. Kennedy International Airport.[33][34][35] Later plans had the Clearview Expressway ending farther east, intersecting with the Belt Parkway at its interchange with the Southern State Parkway.[36] A 1968 proposal from the Regional Plan Association had the Clearview Expressway extension running southeast along 212th Street/Hollis Court Boulevard and Hempstead Avenue, then south along the right-of-ways of the Cross Island and Belt parkways before ending at the Nassau Expressway.[37]^: 46−47 Ultimately, nearly all sections of I-78 between the Holland Tunnel and Hillside Avenue, including the Lower Manhattan Expressway, Bushwick Expressway, and the Clearview Expressway extension were canceled by Governor Nelson Rockefeller in 1971. The only portion to be constructed was the short section of the Nassau Expressway near John F. Kennedy International Airport.[9][31][38][39] This resulted in the renumbering of all of I-78 north of Hillside Avenue to I-295 on January 1, 1970.[4]

There have been proposals during the 21st century to extend the Clearview Expressway south to feed into the JFK Expressway via a tunnel.[40][41] The JFK Expressway had been built as part of a costly overhaul of John F. Kennedy International Airport that began in the late 1980s.[31][42] The JFK Expressway south of the Nassau Expressway and 150th Street was completed around 1986[43] and it was fully completed by 1991.[44]

In February 2003, the Clearview Expressway was renamed "The 77th Infantry Division Expressway".[45][46] The name honors the US Army's 77th Infantry Division of World War I and World War II fame. Raised from draftees from New York City and Long Island, the 77th was also known as the Statue of Liberty Division, due to its shoulder-sleeve insignia.[6]