The Staten Island Expressway is a 7.7 mile (12.39 km) long highway running through the borough of Staten Island, New York in the United States. It is designated as Interstate 278. Its western terminus is the Goethals Bridge linking the island to New Jersey over the Arthur Kill. The eastern terminus is the Verrazano Narrows Bridge linking to Brooklyn over the Narrows. Named the Clove Lakes Expressway when originally proposed, it opened under its actual name in November of 1964, the same month the Verrazano Narrows Bridge was completed. For other uses, see Staten Island (disambiguation) Staten Island, shown in an enhanced satellite image Staten Island is one of the five boroughs of New York City, located on an island of the same name on the west side of the Narrows at the entrance of New York Harbor. ... Interstate 278 (abbreviated I-278) is an Interstate Highway in the U.S. states of New Jersey and New York. ... The Goethals Bridge, seen from Staten Island The Goethals Bridge (pronounced GAWTH-uhls) connects Elizabeth, New Jersey to Staten Island, New York over the Arthur Kill. ... State nickname: The Garden State Official languages None defined Capital Trenton Largest city Newark Governor Richard Codey (D) Acting, Outgoing Jon Corzine (D) (Governor-Elect) Senators Jon Corzine (D) (Outgoing) Bob Menendez (D) (named as Corzines replacement) Frank Lautenberg (D) Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 47th 22,608 km² 14. ... The Arthur Kill, seen from Staten Island, with Carteret, New Jersey in the background. ... The Verrazano Narrows Bridge and Staten Island, New York at dawn The Verrazano Narrows Bridge (often written as the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge) is a suspension bridge that connects the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City at the Narrows, the reach connecting the relatively protected upper bay... For other meanings, see Brooklyn (disambiguation). ... New York Harbor, as seen in a TERRA satellite image. ... For other uses, see November (disambiguation). ... For the Nintendo 64 emulator, see 1964 (Emulator). ...

It connects to the West Shore Expressway, as well as to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Expressway (formerly the Willowbrook Parkway), both of which are designated as segments of New York State Highway 440. Including these two interchanges, the expressway has a total of 13 exits, six of which are one-directional. New York State Highway 440 is a state highway of New York State. ...

In addition to local traffic on Staten Island, the expressway provides the most direct route from Brooklyn and Long Island to central and southern New Jersey. The four counties of Long Island. ...

The Staten Island Expressway is widely regarded as an important demographic boundary since, due to coincidence or not, virtually all of the island's African-American population, and the vast majority of its Hispanic population, resides in the approximately one-fourth of the island's total area which is situated north of the expressway. The portion of the island north of the highway is also coterminous with the territory served by the 120th Precinct of the NYPD, one of the three police precincts located on Staten Island, and also one of the island's three Community Board districts. A demographic or demographic profile is a term used in marketing and broadcasting, to describe a demographic grouping or a market segment. ... An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black), is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ... Hispanic, as used in the United States, is one of several terms used to categorize U.S. citizens, permanent residents and illegal aliens whose ancestry hails either from Spain, the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America, or the original settlers of the traditionally Spanish-held Southwestern United States. ... The New York City Police Department (NYPD) , the largest police department in the United States, has primary responsibility for law enforcement and investigation within the five boroughs of New York City. ...

History

The creation of the Expressway was extremely controversial. It was designed by Robert Moses in 1946 as part of a comprehensive system of freeways and parkways for the borough. The plan received approval in stages through the mid 1950s and construction on the expressway began in 1959. Moses was notorious for pushing through his projects in spite of local opposition. Like many of Moses' projects in other boroughs, the freeway uprooted existing local neighborhoods without mercy. Robert Moses. ... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... // Events and trends This map shows two essential global spheres during the Cold War in 1959. ... 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The construction of the Staten Island Expressway was particularly noted for the massive movement of earth required to build the section of the highway between Clove Road and Price Street (now Narrows Road North, a service road of the expressway) between Grymes Hill and Emerson Hill. The earth removed from the cut in the hill was placed in a remote section of central Staten Island adjacent to Sea View Hospital and has since been nicknamed "Moses Mountain," as a backhanded compliment to the highway's builder. Originally Moses intended for a spur of the expressway to follow the central ridge of the island, to connect with the Outerbridge Crossing. But local opposition to this spur was tremendous, and unlike previous projects by Moses, it went down to defeat, largely due to the re-election of Nelson Rockefeller, a headstrong opponent of Moses, as governor of New York in 1966; the southern half of this proposed spur did get built, however, and was opened for traffic in the autumn of 1972 as the Richmond Parkway, which was to be the name of the entire roadway. Grymes Hill is a neighborhood, situated upon a hill by that name, on Staten Island. ... Emerson Hill is the name of a hill, and the neighborhood upon which the hill is situated, in Staten Island, New York, one of the five boroughs of New York City, USA. The hill is named for Judge William Emerson, brother of Ralph Waldo Emerson; the judge purchased a house... The Outerbridge Crossing, seen from Tottenville, Staten Island. ... Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), an American politician, was Governor of New York and the 41st Vice President of the United States of America from December 19, 1974 to January 20, 1977. ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link goes to calendar) // Events January January 1 - In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa ousts president David Dacko and takes over the Central African Republic. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ... The Richmond Parkway is a freeway that traverses the South Shore of Staten Island, New York, USA from northwest to southeast. ...

The aborted section, from the Expressway to Richmond Avenue, has become part of the park system of New York City known as the Staten Island Greenbelt. A ghost ramp of an interchange on the expressway still exists along a wooded section of Todt Hill. Part of the trail system of the Greenbelt uses the abandoned overpass bridge as pedestrian crossing of the Expressway. The Staten Island Greenbelt is a system of contiguous public parkland and natural areas in the central hills of Staten Island, New York. ... A ghost ramp is a ramp which is built (or partially built) to connect a freeway or other highway to another route which is planned or proposed, and left stranded with the latter route is abandoned or cancelled. ... Todt Hill (elevation 410 ft) is a small mountain ridge on Staten Island, New York. ...