Evening Recorder Arterial Series, February 1960

 

In February of 1960 Amsterdam’s Evening Recorder newspaper ran a series of, ironically, thirteen photos and captions describing what were then the tentative plans for the state arterial system that was going to lead to the rebirth of the downtown area and create the “New Amsterdam”.  Talk of a new arterial system had been floating around for a couple of years by then and it was a foregone conclusion that it would soon be a done deal. Little did anyone realize at that point that it would be well more than a decade before the project was completed, nor the devastating effect it would ultimately have on the city’s traditional business district. Beyond the general east-west and north-south arterial corridors, little of the original proposal made the translation from paper to reality intact – Division Street did not become the westbound arterial, the southbound arterial did not cross the Mohawk on the rebuilt 1916 river bridge, East and West Main Streets did not remain a main artery through the city.

Use the links below to access the Arterial Series articles and see what was and what might have been.

The Historic Amsterdam League would like to thank the Marks family for making the original newspaper clippings shown here available.

 

Arterial Series No. 1 – Where arterial would come over new bridge

Arterial Series No. 2 – Where north arterial would cross Main Street

Arterial Series No. 3 – Where north arterial would cross to Market Street

Arterial Series No. 4 – Where north arterial would cross Shuler Street

Arterial Series No. 5 – Southbound Church Street traffic comes across here

Arterial Series No. 6 – Old railroad bridge would be modernized by state

Arterial Series No. 7 – Taking over arterials, state would rebuild bridge

Arterial Series No. 8 – Where westbound arterial would leave East Main Street

Arterial Series No. 9 – Where westbound arterial would cut through Liberty

Arterial Series No. 10 – Where westbound arterial would cut through Church

Arterial Series No. 11 – Where westbound arterial would cut through Chuctanunda

Arterial Series No. 12 – Where westbound arterial would cut through to Division

Arterial Series No. 13 – Where Guy Park Avenue would be extended to Church Street