I-495 designation was assigned to the New Jersey approach to the tunnel in anticipation of the MME being completed. However, the project was canceled and the MME was officially removed from I-495 on January 1, 1970. The New Jersey stretch of I-495 became Route 495 in 1979. Manhattan Borough President Samuel Levy first proposed the MME connector in 1936. The plan called for an expressway link crossing Midtown Manhattan near 34th Street, then, as now, a heavily traveled crosstown surface street. The original idea was a pair of two-lane tunnels, the MME connecting the West Side Highway on Hudson River and the FDR Drive on the East River. By 1949, Moses had proposed a six-lane elevated expressway along 30th Street. The expressway was to have two exits, connecting to the West Side Highway and Lincoln Tunnel on the west side of Manhattan and also to the Queens–Midtown Tunnel and FDR Drive on the east side of the island. It would be constructed within a right-of-way immediately south of 30th Street. The viaduct would require substantial demolition of highrise buildings within Midtown Manhattan. Moses suggested charging tolls on the new roadway, which was estimated to cost $26 million (equivalent to $ in ) to construct, excluding $23 million (equivalent to $ in ) in land acquisition costs. A later proposal had the roadway situated 10 stories above valuable commercial real estate. Air rights above the expressway would be sold and new highrise buildings would be constructed above the expressway; buildings would be constructed below the viaduct as well. One unusual variation involved running the roadway through the sixth and seventh floors of the Empire State Building. In 1963, plans for the expressway were finalized, and it received the I-495 designation. Beginning from its elevated connections to 12th Avenue (NY 9A) or the West Side Highway, the MME would mostly follow 30th Street east of Ninth Avenue. The expressway would travel east as a six-lane elevated route, 10 stories above the city streets to allow for commercial development both above and below the skyway deck. At Second Avenue, it would swing north for connections with the FDR Drive. Between First and Second avenues, ramps would be constructed to provide access to the Queens–Midtown Tunnel. In December 1965, Moses canceled his plans for the MME due to opposition from the city government, which wanted to build a crosstown tunnel instead. The MME project