East River Suspension Span

Part of the Triborough Bridge, which includes three spans. From arriving Amtrak train.

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, Ward's Island and Randall's Island as intermediate rights-of-way between the water crossings. These two islands have been consolidated by landfill.

The bridges span the Hell Gate (a tidal channel of the East River), Harlem River, and Bronx Kill. Construction had begun on Black Friday in 1929, and the Triborough project's outlook began to look bleak. Othmar Ammann's assistance was enlisted to help simplify the structure. Ammann had collapsed the original two-deck roadway into one, requiring lighter towers, and thus, lighter piers. These cost-saving revisions saved $10 million on the towers alone. Using New Deal money, the project was resurrected in the early 1930s by Robert Moses and the bridge was opened to traffic on July 11, 1936. Its cost was greater than that of the Hoover Dam.

Photo 50, Dec 2007

The longest span of the Triborough Bridge, the East River Suspension Bridge to Queens, connects with the Grand Central Parkway and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and to Astoria's residential areas, restaurants, and shops.

Photo 255, Dec 2010

The East River Suspension Bridge to Queens, part of the Triborough Bridge

Photo 256, Oct 2010

Harlem River Lift Span
part of the Triborough Bridge, which includes three spans. From Amtrak, on way to Boston.

Photo 232, Dec 2007

The Manhattan branch of the The Triborough Bridge is the Harlem River Lift Bridge, which links the Harlem River Drive, the FDR Drive, and 125th Street, Harlem's commercial and cultural center.

Photo 253, Oct 2010

The Bronx Crossing span, part of the the Triborough Bridge, leads motorists to points north via the Bruckner and Deegan expressways and, more locally, to the neighborhoods of the South Bronx and the Port Morris Industrial Area.

It's a complex of three bridges connecting the New York City boroughs of the Bronx, Manhattan, and Queens, using what were two islands, Ward's Island and Randall's Island as intermediate rights-of-way between the water crossings. These two islands have been consolidated by landfill

Photo 250, Oct 2010

Bronx Crossing part of the The Triborough Bridge

Photo 252, Oct 2010