https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/15b8a31d-704d-4791-8497-1ea456abdc24 Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCddem5RlB3bQe99wyY49g0g/join Join us on Patreon. Visit https://www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Visit our website www.PeriscopeFilm.com Shot by an unknown New Yorker, this is a silent home movie and personal view of expansion of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway — a complex and controversial New York thoroughfare. It features renovations near the Co-Op apartments in the N.E. Bronx from 1968 through 1971. BQE; aka I-278, was designed by urban planner and political official, Robert Moses. Construction of the BQE began in 1937, requiring numerous expansions and renovations for years after involving significant engineering and construction efforts. A major challenge was the installation of an eight lane interstate highway with a narrow corridor without upsetting traffic flow. The detour was to be stacked atop the highway construction leading to the destruction of the Promenade and construction of a new six lane highway. Cantilevered roadways were destroyed in stages. Traffic was moved to the new interstate. Robert Moses’s infrastructure projects influenced generations of engineers, architects and urban planners. Hindsight suggests while the BQE facilitated regional connectivity it also fractured communities and ruined homes and businesses along the commercial corridor of Meeker Ave. Footage shows machinery from local companies and the construction process including home demolition, material removal, ground leveling, asphalt laying and gantry installation. It shows urban New York and it’s low density neighborhoods along the expressway. Conclusion shows heavy congestion and flooding on the expressway making a social comment with a sign reading ‘Progress?.’ Record rainfall water logged the city in 1971 forcing a dispatch of tow trucks to the expressway near Greenpoint. (0:00) Film begins off Laurel Hill Blvd. in Woodside. Exposed infrastructure and construction materials litter the site (:14). Shots sweep residential homes (:27) and a corner store (:33). Detour signs (:35), forklifts, tractors, bulldozers (:52) and barricades follow (:59). A brick home with a distinctive roofline appears in a low density neighborhood (1:09). The home owner walks up his front steps and waves (1:15). Day footage shows more construction vehicles (1:18), a crane, workers milling the grounds (1:23) and the traffic flowing around them. Some nearby houses are boarded up (1:32). Linens dangle on the line between (1:37) row homes. Barricades and a wrecking ball follow (1:44). In April, (1:58) the widening project progresses (2:07). Workers operate a Colonial Concrete Company concrete truck (2:17). An Eclipse Mattress delivery truck passes (2:22). Crane’s of Horn Construction Co. are put to use (2:40). A worker stands amid large steel piping (3:10). Another descends the crane near the Co-Op building (3:43). The cooperative housing was considerably new. Built in 1966, it is largest housing cooperative in the world. An LDA backhoe (345) scoops earth. Steel frames stick up in the ground (3:47). A bulldozer chews into a run down home (4:03). The house tips from it’s foundation (4:20). In October, (6:40) concrete foundations appear complete (6:53). Workers operate bulldozers (8:33). The asphalt laying process follows (9:22) using a Mac Asphalt dump truck. Mac operated out of East Williamsburg, NY. Men smooth the surface (9:32). A Horn crane and Colonial Concrete dumping truck follow (9:57). Horn operated out of Merrick, NY. Footage shows progress on the overpass (10:24) and more asphalt laying (10:34). Traffic signs arrive (10:58). A gantry is installed (11:19) near Roosevelt Ave. and Queens Blvd. (11:34). Automobiles drive over newly paved roads (12:43). A sign reads ‘The end 1970’ indicating the conclusion of renovations (12:57). Traffic moves smooth at first (13:00), then quickly clogs up (13:10). Another sign reads ‘June 1971 Progress?’ (13:27) followed stalled vehicles and flooding (13:32). Cars (13:38) and trucks wade waters (13:41). Pedestrians stand outside a stalled vehicle (14:57). A boy sits on the barricade (16:42) Tow trucks (16:45) and the fire department arrive (16:52). A sunset (17:14). Motion picture films don't last forever; many have already been lost or destroyed. For almost two decades, we've worked to collect, scan and preserve the world as it was captured on 35mm, 16mm and 8mm movies -- including home movies, industrial films, and other non-fiction. If you have endangered films you'd like to have scanned, or wish to donate celluloid to Periscope Film so that we can share them with the world, we'd love to hear from you. Contact us via the weblink below. This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzMPgNNoxsQ Mirrored from Periscope Film (https://www.youtube.com/@PeriscopeFilm) Sat, 13 Jun 2026 13:43:08 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://peertube.dngr.us https://peertube.dngr.us/lazy-static/avatars/41a6fee9-7f57-42d0-a5fc-5db4f1af2e31.png https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/15b8a31d-704d-4791-8497-1ea456abdc24 All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://peertube.dngr.us/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.