Newburgh – Beacon Bridge
Coordinates: 41 ° 31 ′ 9 ″ N , 73 ° 59 ′ 39 ″ W.
| Newburgh – Beacon Bridge | ||
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| Official name | Hamilton Fish Newburgh – Beacon Bridge | |
| use | I-84 , New York State Route 52 , Pedestrian Walk | |
| Crossing of | Hudson River | |
| place | Newburgh , Beacon | |
| Entertained by | New York State Bridge Authority | |
| construction | Steel girder bridge | |
| overall length | 2,394.2 m (north bridge) 2,374.1 m (south bridge) |
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| Longest span | 305 m | |
| height | 41.1 m | |
| building-costs | $ 19.5 million (north bridge) $ 93.6 million (south bridge) |
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| start of building | April 1, 1960 (north bridge) June 1, 1976 (south bridge) |
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| opening | November 2, 1963 (north bridge) November 1, 1980 (south bridge) |
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| planner | Modjeski & Masters | |
| toll | 1 dollar / vehicle (eastbound only) | |
| location | ||
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The Newburgh – Beacon Bridge , also Hamilton Fish Newburgh – Beacon Bridge , is the name given to two girder bridges lying next to each other that span the Hudson River in the US state of New York about 90 km north of New York City between the cities of Newburgh and Beacon . They carry I-84 , New York State Route 52 and a pedestrian walkway, and are used by around 65,000 vehicles every day.
history
Between the town of Newburgh on the west bank of the Hudson and the towns of Matteawan and Fishkill Landing east of the river, from which the town of Beacon emerged in 1913, a ferry connection had existed since 1743. In the middle of the 20th century, considerations were taken to replace the ferry , which was only usable for people, but not for cars, with a bridge and thus also to connect areas east of the Hudson to the New York State Thruway, which is being built to the west of the river . In the fall of 1951, surveying work was then carried out, on the basis of which the bridge construction was approved in February 1953 by the New York State Assembly . However, the responsible New York State Bridge Authority (NYSBA) did not initially receive any funding for the construction.
In 1956, the course of the future, east-west running trunk road I-84 was set, which should cross the Hudson on the planned Newburgh-Beacon Bridge . In 1959, the construction of a four-lane bridge was to begin using federal funds . After these funds were not available in the following year, the NYSBA decided, at the instigation of Governor Nelson Rockefeller , to finance the construction of a two-lane bridge from its own resources. Based on a design by Modjeski & Masters , a company founded by Ralph Modjeski , a bridge construction totaling 2,394 meters long and costing 19.5 million US dollars was built on April 1, 1960 and opened on November 2, 1963.
In the first year of operation in 1964, around 25,000 vehicles were already using the bridge - the number for which a four-lane bridge was originally intended before the forecasts were corrected downwards. After the volume of traffic continued to increase in the following years, possibilities for increasing capacity were discussed in the mid-1970s. The extension of the existing bridge with additional lanes above or below the existing route was discarded because the original construction was not designed for this. Instead, it was decided in 1975 to build a second bridge with four lanes immediately south of the existing crossing. Modjeski & Masters was once again commissioned with the planning, and construction officially began on June 1, 1976. After almost four years of construction, the $ 93.6 million southern crossing was opened on November 1, 1980.
The northern bridge was then completely overhauled over the next four years and one lane was added, and the four lanes of the newer southern construction were then reconfigured to three lanes. In 1997, the official name of the two bridges to Hamilton Fish Newburgh Beacon Bridge was added to honor the achievements of the politician Hamilton Fish .
The ferry service between Newburgh and Beacon ceased on November 2, 1963, one day after the opening of the first bridge. Primarily to connect the city of Newburgh with the train station Beacon on the Hudson Line New York City - Poughkeepsie of the Metro-North Railroad , however, the ferry service was resumed in autumn 2005.
construction
The core elements of both bridges are self-supporting steel lattice girders with a length of 305 meters each, which are not in the middle of the Hudson, but rather to the west of it. The remaining distance is spanned by shorter lattice girders of different lengths, three of which are to the west of the main girders per bridge and eight to the east. Both constructions are rust-colored . While the older, northern bridge was painted accordingly, the girders of the southern construction consist of a Korten steel alloy, in which the oxidation of the outermost layer acts as a rust protection for the core.
Individual evidence
- ^ The "Hamilton Fish" Newburgh-Beacon Bridge. Retrieved September 14, 2019 (dates and history on New York State Bridge Authority website ).
- ^ Newburgh – Beacon Bridge: Historic Overview. Retrieved September 14, 2019 .
- ^ A New Bridge Is Added to an Old One Between Two Hudson Cities: New York Times, November 1, 1980
