Williamsburg Bridge in the context of "Wallabout Bay"

Interstate 78 (I-78) is a part of the Interstate Highway System that runs from Union Township, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, to New York City. In the US state of New York, I-78 extends 1⁄2 mile (800 m). The entirety of I-78 consists of the Holland Tunnel, which crosses under the Hudson River from New Jersey and ends at an exit rotary in Lower Manhattan. The tunnel and its approaches are maintained by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ).

I-78 was planned to take a longer route when the Interstate System within New York City was originally proposed in the late 1950s. The proposed route of I-78 was to head east via the Williamsburg Bridge to John F. Kennedy International Airport and then north over the Throgs Neck Bridge to I-95 in the Bronx. One unbuilt section of I-78, the Lower Manhattan Expressway, would have connected the Holland Tunnel to the Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges. Another unbuilt section, the Cross-Brooklyn and Bushwick Expressways, would have extended southeast across Brooklyn, connecting to what is now the Nassau Expressway (New York State Route 878 or NY 878). A third section would have connected the Nassau Expressway, at the southern edge of Queens near JFK Airport, to the southern end of what is now I-295, in central Queens. Due to opposition from the communities along the expressways' routes, these sections of I-78 were never built, and I-78 does not connect to I-278 or to any of its other auxiliary routes.

South Street is a street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, located immediately adjacent to the East River. It runs from Whitehall Street near the southern tip of Manhattan to Jackson Street near the Williamsburg Bridge. An elevated portion of FDR Drive, known as the South Street Viaduct, runs along the entire length of the street.

The street is noted for the South Street Seaport, south of the Brooklyn Bridge, and is the former site of the Fulton Fish Market, which was located just to the north of the seaport. Knickerbocker Village, a municipal housing project, fronts on South Street between the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge in the Two Bridges neighborhood. West of the seaport, South Street is the location of a number of buildings, including 55 Water Street and the New York City Police Museum.

Interstate 278 (I-278) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in New Jersey and New York in the United States. The road runs 35.62 miles (57.32 km) from US Route 1/9 (US 1/9) in Linden, New Jersey, northeast to the Bruckner Interchange in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The majority of I-278 is in New York City, where it serves as a partial beltway and passes through all five of the city's boroughs. I-278 follows several freeways, including the Union Freeway in Union County, New Jersey; the Staten Island Expressway (SIE) across Staten Island; the Gowanus Expressway in southern Brooklyn; the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway (BQE) across Northern Brooklyn and Queens; a small part of the Grand Central Parkway in Queens; and a part of the Bruckner Expressway in the Bronx. I-278 also crosses multiple bridges, including the Goethals, Verrazzano–Narrows, Kosciuszko, and Robert F. Kennedy bridges.

I-278 was opened in pieces from the 1930s through the 1960s. Some of its completed segments predated the Interstate Highway System and are thus not up to standards, and portions of I-278 have been upgraded over the years. In New York, the various parts of I-278 were planned by Robert Moses, an urban planner in New York City. The segments proposed tore through many New York City neighborhoods, causing controversy. Despite its number, I-278 does not connect to I-78. There were once plans to extend I-278 west to I-78 east of the Route 24 interchange in Springfield, New Jersey. This was canceled because of opposition from the communities along the route. The segment that does exist in New Jersey was opened in 1969. There were also plans to extend I-78 east across Manhattan and into Brooklyn via the Williamsburg Bridge; this would have been a second interchange between I-278 and its parent highway, but these plans were also thwarted. I-78 was also planned to extend east beyond I-278 to John F. Kennedy International Airport, and then curve northward on the Clearview Expressway, ending at the Bruckner Interchange in the Bronx. If these plans were fully completed, I-78 and I-278 would have met at three interchanges.

The Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) was an urban transit holding company, based in Brooklyn, New York City, United States, and incorporated in 1923. The system was sold to the city in 1940. Today, together with the IND subway system, it forms the B Division of the modern New York City Subway.

The original BMT routes form the J/Z, L, M, N, Q, R and W trains, as well as the Franklin Avenue Shuttle, with the IND B and D using BMT trackage in Brooklyn. The M train enters the IND via the Chrystie Street Connection after crossing the Williamsburg Bridge. The Q, along with some rush-hour N trains enter the IND from the BMT 63rd Street Line. The R train enters the IND via the 60th Street Tunnel Connection.

The Manhattan Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the East River in New York City, connecting Lower Manhattan at Canal Street with Downtown Brooklyn at the Flatbush Avenue Extension. Designed by Leon Moisseiff, the bridge has a total length of 6,855 ft (2,089 m). The bridge is one of four vehicular bridges directly connecting Manhattan Island and Long Island; the nearby Brooklyn Bridge is just slightly farther west, while the Queensboro and Williamsburg bridges are to the north.

The bridge was proposed in 1898 and was originally called "Bridge No. 3" before being renamed the Manhattan Bridge in 1902. Foundations for the bridge's suspension towers were completed in 1904, followed by the anchorages in 1907 and the towers in 1908. The Manhattan Bridge opened to traffic on December 31, 1909, and began carrying streetcars in 1912 and New York City Subway trains in 1915. The eastern upper-deck roadway was installed in 1922. After streetcars stopped running in 1929, the western upper roadway was finished two years later. The uneven weight of subway trains crossing the Manhattan Bridge caused it to tilt to one side, necessitating an extensive reconstruction between 1982 and 2004.

The Queensboro Bridge, officially the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, is a cantilever bridge over the East River in New York City. Completed in 1909, it connects the Long Island City neighborhood in the borough of Queens with the East Midtown and Upper East Side neighborhoods in Manhattan, passing over Roosevelt Island. Because the western end of the bridge connects to 59th Street in Manhattan, it is also called the 59th Street Bridge. The bridge consists of five steel spans measuring 3,725 ft (1,135 m) long; including approaches, its total length is 7,449 ft (2,270 m).

The Queensboro Bridge carries New York State Route 25 (NY 25), which terminates at the bridge's western end in Manhattan. The bridge has two levels: an upper level with a pair of two-lane roadways, and a lower level with four vehicular lanes flanked by a walkway and a bike lane. The western leg of the Queensboro Bridge is paralleled on its northern side by the Roosevelt Island Tramway. The bridge is one of four vehicular bridges directly connecting Manhattan Island and Long Island, along with the Williamsburg, Manhattan, and Brooklyn bridges to the south. It lies along the courses of the New York City Marathon and the Five Boro Bike Tour.