https://www.thedrive.com/vintage/2920/the-slow-and-steady-death-of-the-gowanus-expressway
Of course several highways & freeways built between the 1940s & 1970s were bulldozed through neighborhoods.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_278#Gowanus_Expressway
One would be hard-pressed to find such expressways that were bulldozed through upper middle-class or wealthy neighborhoods.
http://www.nycroads.com/roads/gowanus , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_278
In a lot of cases, urban highways could have been built above or beside railway corridors or through industrial areas.
https://michaelminn.net/newyork/areas/sunset-park-waterfront/gowanus-expressway/index.html
However, there would still have to be arterial roads & streets connecting to the various expressways or motorways.
https://www.dot.ny.gov/regional-offices/region11/projects/project-repository/gowanus/about.html
The Go wasn't designed to have bus & HOV lanes.
https://www.dot.ny.gov/content/delivery/region11/projects/X73081-Home/construction
A lot of it doesn't even have full width emergency lanes, which could have become bus lanes.
