The entirety of I-78 consists of the Holland Tunnel, which crosses under the Hudson River from New Jersey and ends at an exit rotary in Lower Manhattan.

[11] The exit plaza, referred to the "Holland Tunnel Rotary", is in a square superblock that previously housed the New York Central Railroad's St. John's Park Terminal, bounded clockwise from the north by Laight, Varick, Beach, and Hudson streets.

[16] I-278, the only I-78 spur to leave New York,[14] has a western terminus on Linden, New Jersey, and passes northward and eastward through all five boroughs, with its eastern end at the Bruckner Interchange in the Bronx.

[27] The unbuilt sections of the Lower Manhattan, Bushwick, and Clearview expressways were canceled by the New York state government in March 1971.

[31] As part of the project, a third tube to the Holland Tunnel would have been built to provide sufficient capacity for the proposed expressway traffic.

[32] The expressway was originally conceived by urban planner and Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (TBTA) chair Robert Moses in 1941.

However, efforts to build the highway were delayed until November 1959, when Moses submitted the LOMEX plans for city approval.

[37] In response, Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. told the affected residents that the timeline for starting construction had not yet been finalized, and so they would not need to move for some time.

[38] Opposition also formed over the fact that the highway would create a "Chinese wall" separating the neighborhoods of Lower Manhattan.

Jacobs chaired the Joint Committee to Stop the Lower Manhattan Expressway, which recruited such members as Margaret Mead, Eleanor Roosevelt, Lewis Mumford, Charles Abrams, and William H.

Moses's plan, funded as "slum clearance" by Title I of the Housing Act of 1949, also called for multiple blocks to be razed and replaced with upscale highrises.

[36] The plan ultimately required 132 families to move out, as well as displaced 1,000 small businesses, who relocated to what is now Washington Square Village.

[42] After further issues with relocation arose in August 1962, Wagner delayed final action on the proposal until after that year's November general elections.

It was necessitated because, in case the expressway was ever completed, the tunnel segment would provide structural support to the Chrystie Street Connection.

[53][52] His opponent, John Lindsay, objected to the elevated highway plan; in July 1965, he filed a lawsuit to postpone any decisions on the expressway until after the election that November.

[55] The Regional Plan Association suggested that the city build the expressway underground or in an open cut, instead of an elevated highway.

[57] Deputy Mayor Robert Price subsequently announced that it had stopped pursuing the Lower Manhattan Expressway in any form;[58] however, the Lindsay administration itself was still conducting studies on a possible underground routing.

[59] After considerable disagreement with the Lindsay administration, Moses was removed from his position as the city's arterial-road planner in July 1966.

The underground highway would have to pass underneath existing subway lines before rising on elevated ramps to connect with the Manhattan Bridge.

The plan failed to placate Lower Manhattan residents who had opposed the first two proposals since they had been promised that the entire highway would be located underground.

[63] Lindsay announced in April 1968 that he wanted to start construction on the updated Lower Manhattan Expressway as soon as possible.

[68][69][70] The East New York segment was partially constructed from Atlantic Avenue to the Belt Parkway in the early 1940s, when Conduit Boulevard/Avenue was widened.

[67][68][69] At this time, the TBTA envisioned the main route as an eight-lane highway, while the Williamsburg Bridge and Midtown Tunnel spurs would support six lanes of traffic.

[76] While campaigning for reelection in 1969, Mayor Lindsay canceled plans for the Lower Manhattan and Cross Brooklyn expressways, citing lack of community support.

[82] I-878 was also assigned to the unbuilt Cross Brooklyn Expressway, for a total of 15.6 miles (25.1 km) between the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge and JFK Airport.

[89][90] A 2015 Gothamist article cites singer Bob Dylan as being partially responsible for the eventual cancelation of the Lower Manhattan Expressway.

Though experts were skeptical about the existence of the song and the New York Public Library does not have any records containing the song, Jane Jacobs's son, Jim, confirmed that Dylan had written it and a copy of the lyrics was found in the Tuli Kupferberg collection of the Fales Library of New York University.