State Senate votes to name Brooklyn highway after veterans

Abbate set to sponsor assembly bill

May 9, 2016 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle

The Gowanus Expressway is part of Interstate 278 that would be renamed the “Brooklyn Veterans Memorial Highway.” Eagle photo by Paula Katinas.

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The New York State Senate has voted in favor of renaming a stretch of Interstate 278 running through Brooklyn in honor of military veterans.

The legislation, sponsored by state Sen. Marty Golden (R-C- Bay Ridge-Southwest Brooklyn), would have New York state rename a portion of Interstate 278 from the southern boundary at the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge continuing north to the Queens County line as “Brooklyn Veterans Memorial Highway.”

Assemblymember Peter Abbate (D-Dyker Heights-Sunset Park, Bensonhurst) will sponsor the bill in the Assembly.

Golden, a member of the Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs Committee, said designating a portion of the highway to pay tribute to military veterans makes sense.

“This renaming of a major thoroughfare in Brooklyn will also honor the military history or Brooklyn that stems from the Fort Hamilton Army Base and the Brooklyn Navy Yard. We must recognize the historic contributions of Brooklyn to the defense of our nation and our military power, so that the citizens of today and tomorrow will be inspired and never forget,” Golden said in a statement.

The Gowanus Expressway, a 6.1-mile-long roadway running from the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge to the Hugh Carey Tunnel, is part of Interstate 278.

Part of the Gowanus Expressway runs through Bay Ridge, a community that paid tribute to military veterans several years ago by renaming the 600-foot-long 69th Street Pier the American Veterans Memorial Pier.