Throgs Neck Expressway

1.3 miles

This expressway, which links the New England Thruway and Cross-Bronx Expressway, is named for Throgs Neck, which was settled by John Throckmorton (1601-1684) in 1642. Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Chairman Robert Moses (1888-1981), planned and carried out the Throgs Neck Expressway construction to improve through-traffic conditions in the Bronx.

Throgs Neck, in the Bronx, is a peninsula that extends out to where the East River meets Long Island Sound. Throckmorton, whose name means, “drain town,” first came to the United States in 1631 to participate in John Winthrop’s (1588-1649) Massachusetts Bay colony. Throckmorton’s concepts of religious freedom caused great tension amongst the colonial leadership. In 1637 Throckmorton left for Rhode Island with the radical Puritan preacher Roger Williams (1603-1683). Fearing an attack from Winthrop, Throckmorton moved with 35 families to the southeastern Bronx in 1642, founding a settlement in present-day Throggs Neck. His fourth child, Deliverance, became the first child of European origin born in the Bronx. Unfortunately, Throckmorton and his fellow colonists were forced to vacate the area after an attack by the original inhabitants of the Bronx lands, the Siwanoy Indians.

As the legal proprietor, Throckmorton, having returned to Rhode Island, sold the Throggs Neck area to Augustine Hermans in 1652. Nearly a century later the area assumed the name Throggs Neck. The neighborhood has retained the name though most people now spell the name with one ‘g’, although both spellings are acceptable. After World War II, Robert Moses began developing plans for an expressway and a bridge in the East Bronx. Drafts were made for the expressway in 1955. Six years and $16 million later the expressway and the Throgs Neck Bridge were completed. Boasting three lanes in each direction, a protective steel guardrail in the middle of the road, and a ten-foot shoulder throughout its 1.3 miles.

The expressway underwent significant physical renovations in the 1990s, when new pavement, drainage, enhanced lighting, and additional signs were added for the whole length of the expressway. Today the durable Throgs Neck Expressway handles 55,000 automobiles a day.

Thursday, Dec 06, 2001