Queensboro Bridge
Coordinates: 40 ° 45 ′ 25 ″ N , 73 ° 57 ′ 16 ″ W.
| Queensboro Bridge | ||
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| Official name | Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge | |
| use | Road bridge | |
| Crossing of | East River | |
| place | New York City | |
| Entertained by | New York City Department of Transportation | |
| construction | Cantilever bridge | |
| overall length | 2470.5 m | |
| width | 30 m | |
| Longest span | 360 m | |
| height | 106.7 m | |
| Clear height | 39.6 m | |
| start of building | July 19, 1901 | |
| opening | March 30, 1909 | |
| planner | Gustav Lindenthal Henry Hornbostel |
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The Queensboro Bridge , officially Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge since April 2011 , often colloquially called 59th Street Bridge , is a two-story road bridge over the East River in New York City . It connects Manhattan at 59th Street with Queens Boulevard in Long Island City in the borough of Queens and crosses Roosevelt Island .
description
It is one of the few cantilever bridges whose cantilever arms are directly connected by joints without inserting a suspension beam . It is therefore not a tannery bridge . Your structure is a steel framework construction . Since its upper chords consist of numerous parallel eye rods that describe a sagging curve, it is often mistakenly mistaken for a chain bridge .
The Queensboro Bridge is 1135 m long, including the access ramps, it is 2470.5 m. The bridge has five openings: a side opening in Manhattan, a main opening over the arm of the East River between Manhattan and Roosevelt Island, an opening over Roosevelt Island, an opening over the eastern arm of the East River, and a side opening in Queens. The corresponding spans are 143 + 360 + 192 + 300 + 140 m. It is 106.7 m high and 30 m wide. Its clear height is 39.6 m (130 ft ) above MHW , which is slightly lower than the 41 m (135 ft) of the Brooklyn Bridge and many other bridges on the East River.
history
It was designed by Gustav Lindenthal , the first commissioner of the Department of Bridges , with the assistance of Leffert L. Buck and architecturally designed by Henry Hornbostel. Construction began on July 19, 1901. The steel construction began on Roosevelt Island (then Blackwell's Island ), where the 192 m long bridge girder was mounted on scaffolding. Then the cantilevers were the two arms of the East River in cantilever created, has been raised so far whereby the carrier on the island that the framework could be moved and for the construction of the two cantilevers over the banks. Finally, the two arms protruding from the banks over the East River were built and connected by joints to the two cantilever arms built initially.
Construction was overshadowed by labor disputes, disputes over the design and an over-billed steel scandal. 50 people were killed in the construction. The bridge was opened to traffic on March 30, 1909. Their cost was $ 20 million (around $ 619,000,000 based on today's value).
At that time it was still called Blackwell's Island Bridge. Real estate owners and citizens' groups opposed this name, which was reminiscent of the penal institutions and hospitals on the island, and the New York City Lunatic Asylum, and enforced the name Queensboro Bridge.
Originally the Queensboro Bridge had two elevated railway tracks and two lanes each for motor vehicles and pedestrians on the upper bridge deck. The lower deck had two tram tracks and four lanes for vehicles. In 1942, the elevated railway tracks were removed and finally the tram tracks in 1958. Today the bridge has nine lanes, four on the upper and five on the lower deck, and one lane for pedestrians and cyclists on the north side of the lower deck.
The Queensboro Bridge was the first road connection between Manhattan and Queens and initiated the rapid development of the largely rural district of Queens.
In 1930 it was given an elevator with which people and vehicles could be transported down to what was then called Welfare Island, which was only accessible by ship. The elevator was in service until 1955 when the Roosevelt Island Bridge opened between Queens and the island.
The Roosevelt Island Tramway has stood right next to the Queensboro Bridge since 1979 to handle public transport between Manhattan and the island.
The bridge was added to the List of Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2009 .
In 2011 it was named in honor of Ed Koch , former Mayor of New York, after him.
In popular culture
literature
- In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby , Nick Carraway mentions the bridge and the view of the city of New York from the bridge.
music
- The title of the Simon & Garfunkel song The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin 'Groovy) refers to the Queensboro Bridge.
Music video
- Billy Joel's video clip for his song You're Only Human (Second Wind) from 1985 was filmed on the bridge.
Movie
- In Woody Allen's feature film Manhattan (1979) the main characters sit on a bench below the bridge. This scene was used in the movie poster.
- In the feature film New Jack City (1991), the opening scene takes place on the bridge.
- In the feature film Spider-Man , the Green Goblin confronts Spider-Man with a decision by dropping Mary Jane Watson and a chairlift full of children.
series
- In the sitcom King of Queens , the bridge is mentioned in the intro.
See also
swell
- James Barron, “To Fans, Queensboro Bridge Is a Steel Swan, Not an 'Ugly Duckling'”, New York Times, March 30, 2009 .
- New York City Department of Transportation website for the Queensboro Bridge .
- Erin Einhorn: Ed Koch Queensborough bridge: Span officially renamed in honor of former New York City mayor. Article in the Daily News of March 23, 2011
- Queensboro Bridge. ASCE Metropolitan Section
- Joseph Melan: The bridge building. III. Volume, 2nd half, 2nd edition. Franz Deutike, Leipzig and Berlin 1923, p. 27 f ( digitized PDF 214 kB, on archive.org)
