Before the West Side Highway was built, the road along the Hudson River was busy, with significant cross traffic going to docks and ferries.

The first official proposal for an elevated highway along Manhattan's west side was made by Police Commissioner Richard Edward Enright on January 12, 1924, in a letter to the New York City Board of Estimate.

The planned highway would no longer go to the Battery, instead ending at Canal Street, meeting the Holland Tunnel (which would open to traffic on November 13, 1927).

It was also believed that giving NYCRR elevated tracks on the west side would allow the railroad to monopolize freight and raise prices.

The Port Authority believed it was primarily a freight problem, but NYCRR and New York City considered it to be a grade-crossing elimination project.

Miller also received a letter from NYCRR Vice President Ira Place, stating that the railroad would reduce freight rates if the new elevated structure were built.

[6] On January 20, 1926, borough president Miller sent a plan for an $11 million elevated highway to be built completely on city property to the Board of Estimate.

Controller Charles W. Berry questioned the proposal until he realized the money would come from tax assessments, at which time he agreed with the project.

[9] On November 10, 1926, the Sinking Fund Commission voted to give the city title to the waterfront property along the proposed highway.

Miller spoke at a meeting of the Market and Business Men's Association of the Greenwich and Chelsea Districts on October 30, 1928, detailing plans for the highway.

The alignment in the Chelsea district was slightly modified to avoid proposed piers, and the path through the markets was realigned to pass over a corner of the property.

Above the second floor would be about ten stories of apartments, offices, businesses, and other uses appropriate for the neighborhoods; these would be the main source of revenue to pay for the project.

The sixth and seventh floors would carry one-way passenger car traffic, permitting speeds of up to 50 miles per hour (80 km/h).

A reversible roadway, carrying cars in the direction of rush hour traffic, would occupy the eighth and ninth (top) levels.

He disapproved of its ugliness and noise, and suggested simply clearing obstructions to the existing surface road to speed traffic.

[22]Primarily, the Miller Highway consisted of six lanes, supported above the street level on steel columns, which were located at regular intervals (~80 feet) at the outer edges and center of the roadway.

Smaller longitudinal and transverse floorbeams formed a lattice structure between major girders to support the road deck.

The high impermeable balustrades, the undersized scuppers, the use of salt to de-ice the highway, and the lack of drain cleaning / maintenance were all ingredients which contributed to the structure's demise.

A speed limit of 35 miles per hour (55 km/h) was set by Police Commissioner Edward Mulrooney, and trucks were temporarily banned.

The northbound offramp at 23rd Street, unlike the temporary southbound onramp, was built as a permanent single lane ramp, since in the future most traffic would continue along the not-yet-finished elevated highway.

The original southern terminal for the elevated highway was six lanes wide and was made of stone, complete with winged ornaments and art-deco statuettes.

The highway from 59th to 72nd Streets is the only elevated section that remains today, although it conflicts with plans for the Riverside South development project and neighborhood.

A covered, at-grade replacement road to facilitate a southward expansion of Riverside Park was approved by the Federal Highway Administration in 2001.

This section eliminated a busy intersection at 42nd Street, where streetcars and automobiles crossed the corridor to reach the ferry to Weehawken, New Jersey.

[43] Manhattan Borough President Samuel Levy quickly spoke against these connections, citing interference with southbound traffic on the highway.

[48] On August 23, 1934, Governor Herbert Lehman signed a bill authorizing construction of a southern extension of the elevated highway from Canal Street to the Battery.

[58] Blame was assigned to the trucking company, Edenwald Construction Corp. of Whitestone, Queens, but they were still awarded a no-bid contract to clean up the mess.

After the cleanup of the collapsed section at Gansevoort Street, the highway remained standing but closed to traffic while its fate was decided.

The City performed a preliminary survey of the highway after the collapse, and confirmed extreme structural deterioration of connections between the longitudinal girders and transverse floor beams.

Hardesty and Hanover estimated it would cost $66 million (1976 dollars) for a new road deck, median, lighting, painting, and steel repairs.