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This crazy diagram imagines four layers of stacked highways in New York City

Traffic has plagued New York City for decades. Rush hour often means sitting in gridlock, with streets full of honking cars.

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But what if all the cars were confined to multi-layered mega-highways?

That's exactly the future that architect and urban designer Renzo Picasso imagined in his 1930 illustration of NYC. The drawing is part of a series in which he drew futuristic plans for Manhattan, London, and the Italian city Genoa.

In Picasso's NYC plan, called the "American Multiple Highway," four layers of car traffic and subway trains would use these massive highways. Those layers would also continue in the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels and on the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges.

renzo picasso
"American Multiple Highway" by Renzo Picasso. Renzo Picasso

From top to bottom, the highest layer would be for trains (like the subway), with express car traffic below. The next layer would offer parking, and the ground level would be designated for local traffic.

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If Picasso's highways had been built, they might have decreased traffic on many of Manhattan's roads by restricting cars to specific streets. The plan would also have created more room for pedestrians to roam freely.

But the roads would have been frightening to drive on. Could you imagine if a car fell off the side in the middle of Midtown? Although Picasso's highways are fun to imagine, they don't look too safe.

New York City
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