text: In January 1987, the commission unanimously agreed to build the highway as a six-lane urban boulevard with a parkway-style median and decorative lightposts. There would be a  $100 million park on the highway's western periphery, the latter of which was criticized by Governor Mario Cuomo as being too expensive. Afterward, there were some delays caused by Cuomo's reluctance to prioritize the project. In the meantime, the old, abandoned highway was being used by squatters. One of the first options to be rejected in 1989 was the construction of a boulevard on landfill, which was the reason for Westway's cancellation. There were also proposals for "cove" developments alongside the future boulevard.
  Construction began in early 1996 on the West Side Highway project. The first of the project's seven segments—between Clarkson and Horatio streets in the Greenwich Village neighborhood—was completed in 1998.
  Construction of the West Side Highway Replacement Project was completed between the Battery and 59th Street in August 2001. The period between the 1973 collapse and the 1985 demise of Westway was a chaotic time for drivers as the original elevated highway was dismantled (finally in 1989) and traffic was rerouted to temporary highways.  The new highway permits trucks, which the old elevated did not.  Together with the northern Henry Hudson Parkway, it creates a leafy boulevard along the Hudson River from the northern tip to the southern tip of Manhattan.