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City Island Bridge (old)
Coordinates	40°51′23″N 73°47′36″W / 40.8563°N 73.7933°W / 40.8563; -73.7933
Carries	3 lanes of City Island Road
Crosses	Eastchester Bay
Locale	The Bronx and City Island in New York City
Maintained by	New York City Department of Transportation
Characteristics
Design	Swing bridge
Material	Steel and stone
Total length	950 feet (290 m)
No. of spans	7
Piers in water	6
Clearance below	8 feet (2.4 m)
History
Construction start	1899
Opened	July 4, 1901
Closed	December 18, 2015
Statistics
Daily traffic	14,313 (2009)
Location

The City Island Bridge is a bridge in the New York City borough of the Bronx, connecting City Island with Rodman's Neck on the mainland. The name refers to two bridges: the original bridge from 1901 to 2015, and a new bridge will open in 2017.

Original bridge

The original bridge began construction in 1898 and was completed in 1901. The $200,000 bridge was of stone and steel construction, and spanned 950 ft (290 m). It consisted of five fixed spans and a central swing section. As originally built, the bridge's City Island end connected to City Island Avenue and was located partially on landfill.

The swing section was deactivated and turned into a fixed span in 1963. In 1978–1979, a proposed renovation would have detonated explosives on the corroding piers, but the plan was altered so that the piers would get heavy refurbishment instead.

By 2002, the bridge was in bad shape, and city leaders held a meeting about the deteriorating bridge, showing images of corrosion on the supports, although the corrosion had since been fixed by that time. The bridge, which had been inspected in July 1999, had been deemed capable of carrying up to 50 long tons (56 short tons). The city leaders gave four options for the bridge's future: one entailed renovating the existing span, while the other three were for new spans. The new spans included a conventional causeway-style bridge with four piers; an arch bridge with large foundations on either side of the water; and a cable-stayed bridge with a tower either 240 or 450 feet (73 or 137 m) high.

Replacement bridge

To replace the deteriorating bridge, the city originally intended to build the cable-stayed bridge, with a 150 ft (46 m) high tower, 13 ft (4.0 m) wide at the top, with a base of 26 ft (7.9 m). Vertical clearance above high water would be 12 ft (3.7 m). The new bridge would be located in the same footprint as the existing bridge, although it would be 17 ft (5.2 m) wider to accommodate three standard-width traffic lanes, a bicycle lane and a pedestrian walkway.

The original schedule was for the project to begin in 2007 with completion in 2010. The project was then postponed until June 2012. Due to the project postponement, during 2010 repairs were made to the existing bridge deck, piers, and west abutment. Due to a lack of funding the project was delayed once more until the city announced it would accept bids in late 2012, with Tutor Perini selected as general contractor in February 2013. As of 2005 the estimated cost of the project was $50 million. As of 2009 the estimate increased to $120 million due to redesigns and the addition of related projects. The final bid came in at $102.7 million.

Some residents, however, opposed the design of the cable-stayed bridge and felt that its tower would be out of character with the low-rise homes on City Island. Opponents of the bridge design filed a lawsuit against the city on November 6, 2013. A Bronx Supreme Court judge granted a temporary injunction on that date. In December 2013 the court lifted the injunction, but ruled that the city must conduct public hearings. The city's prior consultations with the island community, which began during the early design stages, had been informal. The court's ruling requires the city to follow its Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, which includes local Community Board hearings.

On May 5, 2014, the original bridge plans were scrapped, and the de Blasio administration chose to go with a slightly cheaper and much shorter causeway-style bridge. The bridge would be completed by 2017 were it to be approved. In 2015, a temporary steel bridge was halfway completed. It reaches from the southern side of the channel to the center where huge steel barges were busy assembling the rest of the temporary span. Stoplights were placed at both ends of the open bridge to facilitate construction. The temporary steel bridge connects to City Island Park, which will be replaced by a new park after construction.

On December 16, 2015, the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) conducted a road test on the temporary steel bridge by running heavy equipment including fire trucks over the bridge. The DOT conducted the tests to ease residents' concerns about the integrity of the temporary structure. On December 18, 2015, the original bridge was closed to vehicular traffic and traffic was routed to the temporary bridge. Shortly after that, the city began demolishing the original bridge, with the new bridge being constructed on the same site as the 1901 bridge.

References

1. "City Island Bridge Opened". The New York Times. July 5, 1901. p. 14. Retrieved January 15, 2010.
2. ^ New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT)(2011). "2010 Bridges and Tunnels Annual Condition Report." Accessed January 30, 2012.
3. Jenkins, Stephen (January 1, 1912). The story of the Bronx from the purchase made by the Dutch from the Indians in 1639 to the present day. New York, London, G.P. Putnam's Sons.
4. "The New City Island Bridge. Work Begun Yesterday on the $200,000 Steel and Stone Structure". The New York Times. January 20, 1899. p. 4. Retrieved August 15, 2009.
5. Baskerville, Charles A. (1987). "Bedrock and engineering geologic maps of Bronx County and parts of New York and Queens counties, New York". Open-File Report. ISSN 2331-1258. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
6. ^ "DRAFT 1A ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT -REPLACEMENT OF CITY ISLAND ROAD BRIDGE OVER EASTCHESTER BAY, BRONX, NEW YORK" (PDF). nyc.gov. Joan H. Geismar, Ph.D., LLC. January 2005. Retrieved March 6, 2017. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
7. "Dynamite Slated for Use in Bridge Repair". Island Current. Vol. xm. March 1978.
8. Civic Association (May 1979). Notice. City Island Historical Society.
9. ^ Dolensek, Barbara (June 2002). "CITY ISLAND BRIDGE TO BE REPLACED" (PDF). The Island Current. p. 5. Retrieved March 6, 2017. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
10. ^ Dolensek, Barbara (April 2005). "Here Comes the Bridge" (PDF). The Island Current. Retrieved September 11, 2009.
11. NYCDOT (2004). "2003 Bridges and Tunnels Annual Condition Report." p. 36. Accessed September 11, 2009.
12. Joel Russell (February 21, 2013). "Hurricane Sandy Drives Tutor Perini Results". San Fernando Valley Business Journal. Retrieved June 14, 2013.
13. H. Perahia, L. King, K. Batra, S. Jarosz (2005). "City Island Cable-Stayed Bridge in New York City." Presented at the 3rd New York City Bridge Conference, New York, September 12–13, 2005.
14. Lombardi, Frank (May 11, 2009). "Span plan crosses $120M: 'Signature' City Island bridge plan's all wet, critics say". Daily News. New York. Retrieved September 11, 2009.
15. "Tutor Perini Announces Pending Award for $102.7 Million City Island Road Bridge Replacement" (Press release). Business Wire. February 21, 2013. Retrieved June 14, 2013.
16. Bindley, Katherine (November 14, 2008). "In the 'Nantucket of New York,' a Bridge to Agitation". The New York Times. Retrieved August 15, 2009.
17. Slattery, Denis (November 8, 2013). "City Island residents sue to block $102 million, 180-foot-tall bridge to mainland Bronx". New York Daily News.
18. Slattery, Denis (December 27, 2013). "City Islanders hail ruling on proposed bridge as minor victory over city". New York Daily News.
19. Rocchio, Patrick (January 7, 2014). "Judge rules on City Island Bridge". Bronx Times. Bronx, NY.
20. Thornton McEnery (May 5, 2014). "City bows to pressure on controversial bridge plan". Crain's New York Business. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
21. Slattery, Denis (May 4, 2014). "Officials bridge differences with City Island residents". NY Daily News. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
22. ^ "City Island Temporary Bridge Undergoes Load Test". WCBS-TV. December 16, 2015. Retrieved December 16, 2015.

External links

• Bridge and Tunnel Club website (photos)
• City Island Bridge history at bridgesnyc.com

• Bridges in New York City
• Bridges completed in 1901
• Bridges in the Bronx
• Swing bridges in the United States
• Bike paths in New York
• Road bridges in New York