The Staten Island Expressway was first planned in 1941 as the Cross-Richmond Express Highway, a freeway connecting the Goethals and Verrazzano-Narrows bridges that was a part of a comprehensive system of freeways and parkways for the borough of Staten Island. In 1945, Robert Moses took over planning for the freeway and called it the Clove Lakes Expressway. The plan received approval in stages through the mid-1950s and construction on the expressway began in 1959. By this time, the Staten Island Expressway had received the I-278 designation.