The Grand Central Parkway was first proposed in 1922 as a way to connect Queens Boulevard with Nassau County. The driving force behind the project eventually became Long Island State Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, who wanted to lure residents of Manhattan and upstate New York to Jones Beach - another highly praised Moses creation that opened in 1929. Moses touted the Parkway as "an easy way" to get there. Soon after it opened, the public took him at his word and on August 17, 1936 created what may have been the worst traffic jam this City has ever seen (dubbed the "cross country traffic jam").