Queensboro Bridge
Close-up of Queensboro Bridge at Long Island City, Queens.
Carries	10 lanes (4 upper, 6 lower) of NY 25
Crosses	East River
Locale	Manhattan, New York and Queens, New York
Maintained by	New York City Department of Transportation
Design	Double-decked Cantilever bridge
Longest span	360.27 meters (1,182 feet) (west span) 299.92 meters (984 feet) (east span) 192.024 meters (630 feet) (center span)
Total length	1,135.08 meters (3,724 feet)
Vertical clearance	12 feet (3.6 m) (upper level)
AADT	192,000
Opening date	March 30, 1909

The Queensboro Bridge, also known as the 59th Street Bridge, is a cantilever bridge over the East River in New York City. It connects the neighborhood of Long Island City in the borough of Queens with Manhattan, passing over Roosevelt Island. It carries New York State Route 25 and once carried NY 24 and NY 25A as well. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (1632 × 1224 pixel, file size: 427 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) (All user names refer to en. ... Industrial Long Island City, Manhattan Skyline behind. ... New York State Route 25 is a major east-west road running from the Queensboro Bridge on the East River in Queens, New York City to the Orient Point Ferry terminal on the end of the North Fork of Long Island. ... New York City waterways: 1. ... For other uses, see Manhattan (disambiguation). ... Queens is geographically the largest of the five boroughs of New York City in the United States, and the most ethnically diverse county in the U.S. It is coterminous with Queens County in the State of New York and is located on western Long Island. ... The New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT or DOT) is responsible for the management of much of New York Citys transportation infrastructure. ... A cantilever bridge is a bridge built using cantilevers: structures that project horizontally into space, supported on only one end. ... AADT - Annual Average Daily Traffic flow - is a term used mainly in transportation planning, but increasingly for websites. ... March 30 is the 89th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (90th in a leap year). ... Year 1909 (MCMIX) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... A cantilever bridge is a bridge built using cantilevers: structures that project horizontally into space, supported on only one end. ... New York City waterways: 1. ... Nickname: Big Apple, Gotham, NYC, City That Never Sleeps, The Concrete Jungle, The City So Nice They Named It Twice Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Settled 1676  - Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area    - City... Long Island City, New York, often abbreviated L.I.C., is an area in the borough of Queens in New York City. ... Queens Borough in New York City, in yellow Queens is one of the five boroughs of New York City, USA. Geographically the largest borough in the city, Queens is home to many immigrants and two of New Yorks major airports. ... The Borough of Manhattan, highlighted in yellow, lies between the East River and the Hudson River. ... Main Street on Roosevelt Island Roosevelt Island, formerly known as Welfare Island, is a narrow island in the East River of New York City. ... New York State Route 25 is a major east-west road running from the Queensboro Bridge on the East River in Queens, New York City to the Orient Point Ferry terminal on the end of the North Fork of Long Island. ... Junction Location Queens NY 25 I-295 Cross Island Parkway Nassau NY 102 Meadowbrook State Parkway NY 102 NY 106 Wantagh State Parkway NY 107 NY 135 Bethpage State Parkway NY 109 Suffolk NY 110 I-495 CR 104 Former NY 113 NY 27 Legend New York State Routes Current... New York State Route 25A is a New York State highway and the main East-West route for most of the North Shore of Long Island, New York running from the Queens-Midtown Tunnel at its Western terminus to Calverton at its Eastern end. ...

The Queensboro Bridge is the only one of the four East River spans that carries a route number (excluding the Triborough Bridge): NY 25 terminates at the west (Manhattan) side of the bridge. It is commonly called the "59th Street Bridge" by New York City residents because its Manhattan end is located between 59th and 60th Streets. The alternative name was popularized by the Simon and Garfunkel song "The 59th St. Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)", although New Yorkers took to calling it the 59th Street Bridge long before the song. The Triborough Bridge is a complex of three bridges connecting the New York City boroughs of the Bronx, Manhattan, and Queens, using what were two islands, Wards Island and Randalls Island as intermediate rights-of-way between the water crossings. ... Simon and Garfunkel are an American popular music duo comprising Paul Simon and Arthur Art Garfunkel. ...

History

Queensboro Bridge at night from Roosevelt Island facing Long Island City.

Serious proposals for a bridge linking Manhattan to Long Island City were first made as early as 1838 and attempts to finance such a bridge were made by a private company beginning in 1867. Its efforts never came to fruition and the company went bankrupt in the 1890s. Successful plans finally came about in 1903 under the city's new Department of Bridges, led by Gustav Lindenthal in collaboration with Leffert L. Buck and Henry Hornbostel, designers of the Williamsburg Bridge. Construction soon began but it would take until 1909 for the bridge to be completed due to delays from the collapse of an incomplete span during a windstorm and from labor unrest (including an attempt to dynamite one span). The bridge opened to the public on March 30, 1909, having cost about $18 million and 50 lives. It was then known as the Blackwell's Island Bridge, from an earlier name for Roosevelt Island. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1800x2700, 2431 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Queens Queensboro Bridge Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1800x2700, 2431 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Queens Queensboro Bridge Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used... Main Street on Roosevelt Island Roosevelt Island, formerly known as Welfare Island, is a narrow island in the East River of New York City. ... Long Island City, New York, often abbreviated L.I.C., is an area in the borough of Queens in New York City. ... | Jöns Jakob Berzelius, discoverer of protein 1838 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Cunt BAg Twat Fuk suck my penis ring 0778851865!!!!!!Year 1867 (MDCCCLXVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... 1903 (MCMIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Friday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ... The Hell Gate Bridge circa 1917. ... Leffert L. Buck (1837-1909) was an American civil engineer and a pioneer in the use of steel arch bridge structures. ... Henry Hornbostel (1867 - 1961) was an American architect. ... The Williamsburg Bridge is a suspension bridge in New York City across the East River connecting Manhattan at Delancey St. ... Year 1909 (MCMIX) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... March 30 is the 89th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (90th in a leap year). ... Year 1909 (MCMIX) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

The lengths of its five spans and approaches are:

• Manhattan to Roosevelt Island span length: 1,182 ft (360 m)
• Roosevelt Island span length: 630 ft (192 m)
• Roosevelt Island to Queens span length: 984 ft (300 m)
• side span lengths: 469 and 459 ft (143 and 140 m)
• total length between anchorages: 3724 ft (1135 m)
• total length including approaches: 7449 ft (2270 m)

The bridge has two levels. Originally the top level contained two automobile pedestrian walks and two elevated railway tracks (as a spur from the IRT Second Avenue Elevated Line) and the lower deck four traffic lanes, and what is now the "outer roadway" and pedestrian walk were two trolley lanes. The railway would be removed in the late 1930s and early 1940s as well as the 2nd Avenue Elevated Line. The trolley lanes were removed in the 1950s, and for the next few decades the bridge carried 11 lanes of automobile traffic. Subway redirects here; for the restaurant named Subway, see Subway (restaurant). ...

No tolls are charged for motor vehicles to use the bridge.

The bridge was known as the 59th Street Bridge before WWII.

Today

Queensboro Bridge at night with the Roosevelt Island Tramway in view.

After years of decay and corrosion, an extensive renovation of the Queensboro Bridge was begun in 1987 and is still in progress, having cost over $300 million. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2592x1944, 693 KB) Summary Taken from Roosevelt Island, Roosevelt Island Tramway also in view Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2592x1944, 693 KB) Summary Taken from Roosevelt Island, Roosevelt Island Tramway also in view Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The Roosevelt Island Tramway is an aerial tramway in New York City. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The upper level of the Queensboro Bridge has four lanes of automobile traffic and provides an excellent view of the bridge's cantilever truss structure and the New York skyline. The lower level has six lanes, the inner four for automobile traffic and the outer two for either automobile traffic or pedestrians and bicycles. The northern outer roadway was converted into a permanent pedestrian walk in 1999.

The Manhattan approach to the bridge is supported on a series of Guastavino tile vaults which now form the elegant ceiling of the Food Emporium and the restaurant Guastavino's, located under the bridge. Originally, this open air promenade was known as Bridgemarket and was part of Hornbostel's attempt to make the bridge more hospitable in the city.

Rail tracks

In addition to the two rapid transit tracks, the bridge also had four streetcar tracks. The following Queens lines operated over the bridge: For lower capacity public transit systems, see tram, light rail, bus, and bus rapid transit. ... a historic postcard showing electric trolley-powered streetcars in Richmond, Virginia, where Frank J. Sprague successfully demonstrated his new system on the hills in 1888 A streetcar is a railway vehicle designed to carry passengers on tracks, usually laid in city streets. ...

• Queensboro Bridge Local, 1909-1957 (last streetcar line in the city)
• Astoria Line, 1910-1939
• Steinway Line, 1910-1939
• Queens Boulevard Line, 1913-1937
• College Point Line, 1910-1925
• Corona Line, 1910-1922

One Manhattan line operated over the bridge, the Third Avenue Railway's 42nd Street Crosstown Line from 1910 to 1919. The Third Avenue Railway was a street railroad company in the U.S. state of New York. ...

In popular culture

• In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway traverse the bridge on their way from Long Island to Manhattan. "The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge," Nick says, "is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world".

• In the novel Charlotte's Web, Charlotte refers to the Queensboro Bridge as a sort of human-made spider web.

• As previously mentioned, the bridge is featured (as the 59th Street Bridge) in the title of the Simon and Garfunkel song "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)."

• The Queensboro is prominently displayed during the opening credits of the television series Taxi, as a cab (driven by series star Tony Danza) drives across it.

• The bridge is the setting for a significant scene in the 2002 movie Spider-Man. In that movie, the Green Goblin throws Mary Jane Watson from the bridge, and Spider-Man must decide between saving her or passengers on the Roosevelt Island tram.

• In Ultimate Spider-Man #25, the Green Goblin kidnaps Mary Jane Watson and throws her off the bridge.

• The theme song of the CBS sitcom The King of Queens include the lyrics "Sitting here in traffic on the Queensboro Bridge tonight."

• The Queensboro Bridge was used in the thrill ride Kongfrontation at Universal Studios Florida. The ride, based on King Kong, had passengers riding the Roosevelt Island Tramway from Manhattan to Roosevelt Island. A mechanical King Kong attacked the cars while hanging off the Queensboro Bridge.

• The 59th Street Bridge was blasted by supervillain Hank Scorpio in The Simpsons episode "You Only Move Twice", in a plot to blackmail the UN.

• The Queensboro Bridge plays a key role in the opening and chase sequences in King of New York.

• In 1992's Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, a taxi drives Kevin McCallister Macaulay Culkin across the upper deck of the bridge.

• The bridge was featured in the 1981 John Carpenter film Escape from New York. The bridge was one of the last intact links to the Manhattan Island prison and was land mined to thwart escape attempts.

• The bridge is also the setting for a memorable scene in the Woody Allen classic film, "Manhattan".

• The opening sequence in the film New Jack City is set on the bridge, in which Wesley Snipes' character throws a rival off to his death.

• Musician David Mead included a song called "Queensboro Bridge" on his 2004 album Indiana.

• The Queensboro Bridge was featured in the opening and closing credits of Archie Bunker's Place.

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an Irish American Jazz Age novelist and short story writer. ... The Great Gatsby is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. ... Charlottes Web is a childrens book by acclaimed American author E. B. White, first published in 1952, it tells the story of a barn spider named Charlotte and her friendship with a pig named Wilbur. ... Taxi is an American sitcom that originally aired from 1978 to 1982 on ABC, and from 1982 to 1983 on NBC. The series focused on the everyday life of a handful of New York City taxi drivers working for the Sunshine Cab Company, as well as their abusive dispatcher, Louie... Tony Danza In the 1980s. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man Spider-Man is the name of an extremely successful movie (released on May 3, 2002) which stars Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and Willem Dafoe and was directed by Sam Raimi. ... The Roosevelt Island Tramway is an aerial tramway in New York City. ... Ultimate Spider-Man is a superhero comic book series published by Marvel Comics. ... CBS is one of the largest radio and television networks in the United States. ... The King of Queens is a long-running American Comedy series that debuted on September 21, 1998 (the very same day that Will & Grace debuted), and is set to end after the 2006-2007 season. ... The Roosevelt Island Tramway is an aerial tramway in New York City. ... Hank Scorpio is a one-time fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced by Albert Brooks. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... You Only Move Twice is the second episode from the eighth season of The Simpsons. ... King of New York is an ultraviolent 1990 motion picture depicting Frank White, a recently-released drug lord who, in a modern-day retelling of the Robin Hood legend, returns to New York City to retake control of the illegal drug trade and use the profits to fight poverty. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) is the sequel to the film Home Alone. ... Macaulay Carson Culkin (born August 26, 1980) is an American actor. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, film score composer and occasional actor. ... John Carpenters Escape from New York is a 1981 science fiction action film directed and scored by John Carpenter. ... New Jack City is a 1991 crime-thriller film starring Wesley Snipes, Ice T, Mario Van Peebles, Judd Nelson and Chris Rock. ... Wesley Trent Snipes (born July 31, 1962, in Orlando, Florida) is an American actor, martial artist and film producer. ... David Mead in concert David Mead is an American singer-songwriter known for crafting songs in classic pop music style and possessing a uniquely high voice. ... Indiana is the third album by singer/songwriter David Mead, his first for Nettwerk. ... Archie Bunkers Place was a CBS sitcom that had previously been known as All in the Family. ...

References

• Abandoned Stations: Queensborough Bridge Railway terminal

External links

• NYC.gov
• NYCroads.com
• Transportation Alternatives Fiboro Bridges - Queensboro Bridge

	Bridges and tunnels in New York City This box: view • talk • edit
Bridges	Bayonne Bridge | Brooklyn Bridge | Bronx Whitestone Bridge | City Island Bridge | Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge | George Washington Bridge | Goethals Bridge | Hell Gate Bridge | Henry Hudson Bridge | Joseph P. Addabbo Memorial Bridge | Kosciuszko Bridge | Madison Avenue Bridge | Manhattan Bridge | Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge | Outerbridge Crossing | Pelham Bridge | Pulaski Bridge | Queensboro (59th Street) Bridge | Third Avenue Bridge | Throgs Neck Bridge | Triborough Bridge | Verrazano-Narrows Bridge | Williamsburg Bridge Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2592x1944, 2503 KB) Other versions Originally from en. ... // Bridges by water body East River From north to south: Throgs Neck Bridge Bronx-Whitestone Bridge Rikers Island Bridge (only connects Rikers Island to Queens) Hell Gate Bridge Triborough Bridge Roosevelt Island Bridge (east channel only) Queensboro Bridge Williamsburg Bridge Manhattan Bridge Brooklyn Bridge Hudson River George Washington Bridge (I... Nickname: Big Apple, Gotham, NYC, City That Never Sleeps, The Concrete Jungle, The City So Nice They Named It Twice Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Settled 1676  - Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area    - City... The Bayonne Bridge, as seen from Port Richmond, Staten Island The Bayonne Bridge is the third longest steel arch bridge in the world. ... For other uses, see Brooklyn Bridge (disambiguation). ... Bronx Whitestone Bridge © 2004 Metropolitan Transportation Authority Aerial view of the Bronx Whitestone Bridge Ground view of its sister bridge, the Throgs Neck Bridge, from Queens © 2006 Michael Roach The Bronx Whitestone Bridge, colloquially referred to as the Whitestone Bridge, is a suspension bridge that crosses the East River and... The City Island Bridge is a fixed bridge in the Bronx, New York City, connecting City Island and the mainland. ... The Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge (originally Cross Bay Bridge) wholly in New York City, is a toll bridge that crosses Beach Channel in Jamaica Bay to Rockaway Peninsula, and is located in Queens. ... For the bridge in New York that crosses the Harlem River, see Washington Bridge. ... The Goethals Bridge, seen from Staten Island The Goethals Bridge (pronounced GAWTH-uhls) connects Elizabeth, New Jersey to Staten Island, New York over the Arthur Kill. ... The Hell Gate Bridge (originally the New York Connecting Railroad Bridge) is a 1,017-foot (310 m) steel arch railroad bridge between Astoria in the borough of Queens and Randalls and Wards Islands (which are now joined into one island and are politically part of Manhattan) in New York... The Henry Hudson Bridge is a steel arch toll bridge in New York City across the Harlem River, a tidal estuary. ... The Joseph P. Addabbo Memorial Bridge located in the New York City borough of Queens, is a bridge that runs south from Howard Beach, crosses the Grassy Bay portion of Jamaica Bay to Broad Channel. ... The Kosciuszko Bridge is a truss bridge that spans Newtown Creek between Brooklyn and Queens. ... The Madison Avenue Bridge crosses the Harlem River from Manhattan to the Bronx. ... The Manhattan Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the East River in New York City, connecting Lower Manhattan with Brooklyn. ... The Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge in New York City (originally Marine Parkway Bridge) is a toll bridge that crosses Rockaway Inlet and connects Rockaway Peninsula, in Queens, with Brooklyn. ... The Outerbridge Crossing, seen from Tottenville, Staten Island. ... Pelham Bridge is a Bascule bridge located in The Bronx. ... The Pulaski Bridge in New York City connects Long Island City in Queens to Greenpoint in Brooklyn over Newtown Creek. ... The Third Avenue Bridge carries southbound road traffic over the Harlem River from Manhattan to the Bronx. ... Aerial view of the Throgs Neck Bridge The Throgs Neck Bridge is a suspension bridge opened on January 11, 1961 that carries Interstate 295 and connects the Throgs Neck section of the Bronx with the Bayside section of Queens. ... The Triborough Bridge is a complex of three bridges connecting the New York City boroughs of the Bronx, Manhattan, and Queens, using what were two islands, Wards Island and Randalls Island as intermediate rights-of-way between the water crossings. ... Verrazano Bridge redirects here, for the bridge to Assateague Island, see Verrazano Bridge (Maryland) The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge that connects the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City at the Narrows, the reach connecting the relatively protected upper bay with the... The Williamsburg Bridge is a suspension bridge in New York City across the East River connecting Manhattan at Delancey St. ...
Tunnels	Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel | Holland Tunnel | Lincoln Tunnel | Queens Midtown Tunnel The Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel is a toll road in New York City which crosses under the East River at its mouth and connects the Boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan, nearly passing under, but providing no access to Governors Island. ... Clifford Milburn Holland, 1919 Traveling through the Holland Tunnel, from Manhattan to New Jersey. ... The Lincoln Tunnel is a 1. ... The Queens Midtown Tunnel is a toll road in New York City. ...
Operators	Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority | Metropolitan Transportation Authority | Port Authority of New York and New Jersey | New York City Department of Transportation | New York State Department of Transportation | Amtrak The Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, described to the public by the popular name MTA Bridges and Tunnels, or MTA B&T, is an affiliate agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a public benefit corporation, that operates all intrastate toll bridges in New York City. ... The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the State of New York. ... The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is a bi-state agency (operated pursuant to an interstate compact) that runs most of the regional transportation infrastructure including the bridges, tunnels, airports and seaports within the New York-New Jersey Port District. ... The New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT or DOT) is responsible for the management of much of New York Citys transportation infrastructure. ... The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) is reponsible for the development and operation of highways, railroads, mass transit systems, ports, waterways and aviation facilities in the U.S. state of New York. ... Acela Express in West Windsor, NJ Amtrak Cascades service with tilting Talgo trainsets in Seattle, Washington Amtrak train in downtown Orlando, Florida For other uses, see Amtrak (disambiguation). ...

Crossings of the East River
Upstream 60th Street Tunnel	Queensboro Bridge	Downstream 53rd Street Tunnel