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Williamsburg Bridge
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Williamsburg Bridge | |
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| Carries | 8 lanes of roadway, 2 tracks of the J M Z trains of the New York City Subway, pedestrians, and bicycles |
|---|---|
| Crosses | East River |
| Locale | Manhattan and Brooklyn, in New York City |
| Maintained by | New York City Department of Transportation |
| Design | Suspension bridge and truss causeways |
| Longest span | 487.68 meters (1,600 feet) |
| Total length | 2,227.48 meters (7,308 feet) |
| Width | 35.97 meters (118 feet) |
| Vertical clearance | 10 feet 6 inches (3.2 m) (inner roadways only) |
| Clearance below | 41.15 meters (135 feet) at mean higher high water |
| AADT | 110,000 |
| Opening date | December 19, 1903 |
| Connects: Manhattan at Delancey St. with the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn |
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The Williamsburg Bridge is a suspension bridge in New York City across the East River connecting the Lower East Side of Manhattan at Delancey Street with the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn on Long Island at Broadway near the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (Interstate 278). It once carried New York State Route 27A and later Interstate 78.
Construction on the bridge began in 1896, with Leffert L. Buck as chief engineer, Henry Hornbostel as architect and Holton D. Robinson as assistant engineer, and the bridge opened on December 19, 1903 at a cost of $12,000,000. At the time it was constructed, the Williamsburg Bridge was the largest suspension bridge on Earth, and remained so until the Bear Mountain Bridge was completed in 1924. It is an unconventional structure, as suspension bridges go; though the main span hangs from cables in the usual manner, the side spans leading to the approaches are cantilevered, drawing no support from the cables above. The main span of the bridge is 1600 feet (488 m) long. The entire bridge is 7308 feet (2227 m) long between cable anchor terminals, and the deck is 118 feet (36 m) wide. The height at the center of the bridge is 135 feet (41 m) and each tower is 335 feet (102 m); these measurements taken from the river's surface at high water mark.
The bridge is one of only two suspension bridges in New York City to currently carry both automobile and rail traffic. (The Manhattan Bridge is the other.) In addition to this two-track rail line, connecting the New York City Subway's BMT Nassau Street Line and BMT Jamaica Line, there were once two sets of trolley tracks.
The Brooklyn landing is between Grand Street and Broadway, which both had ferries at the time. Both withered and went out of business in the following years.
The Williamsburg Bridge is featured in the movies The Lost Weekend (1945) and The Naked City (1948) and the novel The Alienist (1994) by Caleb Carr.
The bridge has been under reconstruction since the 1980s, largely to repair damage caused by decades of deferred maintenance. The cast iron stairway on the Manhattan side, and the steep ramp from Driggs Avenue on the Williamsburg side to the footwalks, were replaced to allow handicapped access in the 1990s. The bridge celebrated its 100th anniversary in December 2003.
No tolls are charged for motor vehicles to use the bridge.
Had the Lower Manhattan Expressway been built, the Williamsburg Bridge would have obtained the Interstate 78 designation.
Sonny Rollins was discovered here after disappearing from the public view for over three years.
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The rapid transit tracks in the center of the bridge were initially used by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company elevated railroad. Today, the New York City Subway J M Z trains use these tracks.
Two tracks on the south side carried streetcars from the Brooklyn side:
- Williamsburg Bridge Local, 1904-1948
- Nostrand Avenue Line, 1904-1923 and 1931-1948
- Ralph Avenue Line, 1905-1908; Ralph and Rockaway Avenues Line, 1908-1923 and 1931-1948
- Tompkins Avenue Line, 1906-1923 and 1931-1947
- Reid Avenue Line, 1904-1923 and 1931-1937
- Broadway Line, 1904-1923
- Franklin Avenue Line, 1904-1923
- Grand Street Line, 1904-1923
- Sumner Avenue Line, 1904-1923
- Wilson Avenue Line, 1904-1923
- Bushwick Avenue Line, 1904-1921
- Nostrand-Culver Line and Nostrand-Prospect Line, 1906-1919
Two north-side tracks carried Manhattan streetcars:
- Grand Street Line, 1904-1932
- Post Office Line, 1919-1932
- Seventh Avenue-Brooklyn Line, 1911-1919
- 8th Street Crosstown Line, 1904-1911
- 14th Street-Williamsburg Bridge Line, 1904-1911
- Fourth Avenue and Williamsburg Bridge Line, 1904-1911
 Fireworks on opening night, 1903. |
 Williamsburg Bridge view from Manhattan side |
 The Williamsburg Bridge, as viewed from its deck under the east tower |
 J Train on Williamsburg Bridge |
- Bridges at New York City DOT
- structurae.deWilliamsburg Bridge entry
- HAER Williamsburg Bridge entry at the Library of Congress
- nycroads.com Williamsburg page. Has excellent construction photos (taken from Parsons Transportation Group (parsons.com site), the successor company to the design firm that executed the original desing) as well as replacement bridge proposal details
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps or Yahoo! Maps
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
- Satellite image from Google Maps or Microsoft Virtual Earth
| Preceded by Brooklyn Bridge |
Largest Suspension Bridge 1903 - 1924 |
Succeeded by Bear Mountain Bridge |
| Crossings of the East River | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Upstream 14th Street Tunnel  |
Williamsburg Bridge   |
Downstream Rutgers Street Tunnel  |
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