In August 1940, the city filed plans for two drawbridges across the Gowanus Canal as part of the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel approach project. The U.S. Army officially approved plans for the Gowanus Canal bridge in October, just before the tunnel was set to begin construction. The Gowanus bridge's contract was awarded in December 1940. A contract for the Gowanus Parkway approach to the tunnel and bridge was awarded the next month. In mid-1941, planners realized that Hicks Street, on the Brooklyn side, would also need to be widened so that traffic from the north could enter the tunnel, whose Brooklyn portal faced southeast. By May 1942, the Gowanus Parkway was completed between Hicks Street and the Belt Parkway. The parkway also included a bridge over the Gowanus Canal, a fixed span rising above the waterway before descending to Hicks Street. Construction on an extension of the highway along Hicks Street did not start until 1946.