>>1369585The original goal of the LEX (Lower Manhattan Expressway) was to provide direct, grade-separated highway access between Jersey City and Long Island. Under the current configuration, traffic from Jersey City dumps out of the Holland tunnel onto surface streets such as Canal, and then requires the use of surface streets to reach the Manhattan or Williamsburg bridges before regaining access to the freeway system for Long Island.
This has turned Canal and other streets into a mess, with the tunnel and bridge entrances being constantly jammed-up with traffic. The insult "B&T (Bridge and tunnel) trash" actually comes to a large extent from the Holland and the mess it creates in lower Manhattan.
