(Top Image) A former street has here been preserved to form the local service way at the left. The right service way abutting the rear of properties facing on the next street is built on part of a half-block strip acquired for the improvement. The right-of-way is inadequate for the type of development proposed by the committee. (Bottom Image) This example, like the one above embodies many of the features considered desirable for urban depressed construction, but is also somewhat cramped in its design by inadequate right-of-way width.
The Gowanus Elevated Parkway in New York, typical of elevated construction that may be employed near the centers of larger cities,cost $3,00,000 per mile. A large part of the cost was made up of the right-of-way expense engendered by widening of the street in which it was built. Even though attractively designed, elevated roadways are aesthetically undesirable in the midst of some parts of cities, such as residential areas. They also tend to divide a community and to act as barriers, at least psychologically, between the divided sections. This particular elevated structure in New York is appropriately located, however, because it divided a residential community (on the left) from an industrial and dock area.