The Gowanus Expressway is an elevated highway in Brooklyn, New York.
Built in the 1940's by Robert Moses, the Gowanus Expressway is part of U.S. Interstate 278. It carries I-278 from near the Verrazano Narrows Bridge four miles north to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. It connects with the Prospect Expressway and the Brooklyn Queens Expressway (I-278).
The Gowanus is a heavily used highway. Roughly 50 million cars and 4 million trucks use it ever year. The American Automobile Association named the Gowanus one of the 10 most congested interstate highways.
The construction of the Expressway is believed by many to have caused major social disruption in the neighborhoods below it. The impact and usefulness of the Gowanus is still in dispute today.