Bayonne Bridge
Encyclopedia
The Bayonne Bridge is the fourth longest steel arch bridge in the world, and was the longest in the world at the time of its completion. It connects Bayonne
, New Jersey
with Staten Island
, New York
, spanning the Kill Van Kull
. Despite popular belief, it is not a national landmark.
The bridge was designed by master bridge-builder Othmar Ammann
and the architect
Cass Gilbert
. It was built by the Port of New York Authority
and opened on November 15, 1931, after dedication ceremonies were held the previous day.
The Port Authority is planning to rebuild the roadway higher within the existing arch to allow larger container ships to pass underneath.
and suspension
design as expensive and impractical for the site, given a requirement by the Port Authority that the bridge must be able to accommodate the future addition of rapid transit tracks.
The eventual design of the bridge called for a graceful arch that soars 266 feet (69 m) above the Kill Van Kull and supports a road
bed for 1,675 feet (511 m) without intermediary pier
s. The total length of the bridge is 8,640 feet (2,633 m) with a mid-span clearance above the water of 150 feet (46 m). The arch resembles a parabola
, but is made up of 40 linear segments.
The design of the steel arch is based on the Hell Gate Bridge
designed by Ammann's mentor, Gustav Lindenthal
. Gilbert had designed an ornamental granite
sheathing over the steelwork as part of the original proposal, but as in the case of the George Washington Bridge
, the stone sheathing was eliminated in order to lower the cost of the bridge, leaving the steel truss
es exposed. It was the first bridge to employ the use of manganese steel for the main arch ribs and rivets.
, David M. Dow, the Secretary for Australia in the United States, attended the dedication ceremony and noted that the bridge in Sydney was much larger and contained more than double the amount of steel. The same pair of golden shears used to cut the ribbon for the Bayonne Bridge was sent to Australia for the ribbon cutting of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
The presence of the Bayonne Bridge ultimately led to the discontinuation of the Bergen Point Ferry.
The supported roadway carries two lanes of traffic in each direction. The roadway deck could accommodate an expansion for either two traffic lanes or two light-rail lanes. A pedestrian walkway, cantilevered from the western side of the roadway, currently provides the only access by foot to Staten Island; at more or less normal walking speed, it takes approximately 25–30 minutes to walk from the street access on one side of the bridge to the street access on the other side. The Port Authority also permits bicycle
traffic, however the sidewalk ends abruptly at descending stairs on the New Jersey side. Due to safety concerns, bicycle riders are required to walk their bicycles across the bridge.
Toll
s are collected on vehicles traveling into Staten Island (there is no toll for vehicles traveling into New Jersey).
As of September 18, 2011, the cash toll
s going from New Jersey to Staten Island will be charged $12 for cars and $11 for motorcycles (there is no toll for passenger vehicles going from Staten Island to New Jersey). All E-ZPass
users will be charged $7.50 for cars and $6.50 for motorcycles during off-peak hours (outside of 6-10 am and 4-8 pm on the weekdays; and outside of 11 am - 9 pm on the weekends) and $9.50 for cars and $8.50 for motorcycles during peak hours (6-10 am and 4-8 pm on the weekdays; and 11 am - 9 pm on the weekends).
In September 2007, the New York City Transit Authority
began a limited-stop bus route (the
S89 ) that crosses the bridge. The route's termini are the Hylan Boulevard
bus terminal in Eltingville, Staten Island
and the 34th Street Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Station
in Bayonne. This is the first interstate bus service offered by the MTA
.
In 2003, the bridge carried about 20,000 vehicles per day.
The Bayonne Bridge was designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers
in 1985.
The span presents a difficult obstacle to large container ships passing under it on the way to and from Newark Bay
. Its clearance of between 151 to 156 ft (46 to 47.5 m) above the Kill Van Kull depending on the tide means that some of today's ships, which can reach 175 feet (53.3 m) above the waterline, must fold down antenna masts, take on ballast or wait for low tide to pass through. The problem will become more serious after the Panama Canal expansion project allows larger Panamax
ships to become commonplace.
The Port Authority is planning to raise the bridge's clearance to 215 feet (65.5 m) by building a new roadway above the existing roadway within the current arch structure. A gantry crane rolling on top of the arch would construct one rope-supported section of the new roadway at a time, using a temporary beam to support the existing roadway while each rope is replaced. The existing roadway would then be removed. The Port Authority has allocated $1 billion in its capital program to pay for the project, and believes it is possible to build the new roadway without interrupting traffic flow between Staten Island and Bayonne; however it is still reviewing the added costs of following such an approach. The Port Authority says its designs for this program will not preclude adding mass transit in the future. Extending the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail
line to Staten Island over the bridge has been proposed.
The Port Authority commissioned a study of the question by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, completed in 2009, and authorized up to $10 million for planning and engineering services to develop options to deal with the bridge's low clearance. The Army Corps of Engineers study looked at three options to deal with the height-challenged bridge. The quickest option they identified was a $1.32 billion project to jack up the bridge to increase its height by 40 percent, which could be accomplished by 2019 at the earliest. It will need a clearance of 215 feet (65.5 m) to handle the new ships. Another option is to build a new cable-stayed bridge
, which would cost $2.15 billion and take until 2022. The most expensive option would be to get rid of the bridge altogether and replace it with a tunnel through which traffic would traverse under the Kill Van Kull. This option would take to 2024 to complete and cost $2.2 to $3 billion.
The Corps of Engineers estimated that raising the bridge would produce a $3.3 billion dollar national benefit, noting that 12% of all US international containers pass under the bridge. Congressmen from both New York and New Jersey are pressing the Port Authority to act quickly.
Bayonne, New Jersey
Bayonne is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Located in the Gateway Region, Bayonne is a peninsula that is situated between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill van Kull to the south, and New York Bay to the east...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
with Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, spanning the Kill Van Kull
Kill Van Kull
The Kill Van Kull is a tidal strait between Staten Island, New York and Bayonne, New Jersey in the United States. Approximately long and wide, it connects Newark Bay with Upper New York Bay. The Robbins Reef Light marks the eastern end of the Kill, Bergen Point its western end...
. Despite popular belief, it is not a national landmark.
The bridge was designed by master bridge-builder Othmar Ammann
Othmar Ammann
Othmar Hermann Ammann was a American structural engineer whose designs include the George Washington Bridge, Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, and Bayonne Bridge.-Biography:...
and the architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
Cass Gilbert
Cass Gilbert
- Historical impact :Gilbert is considered a skyscraper pioneer; when designing the Woolworth Building he moved into unproven ground — though he certainly was aware of the ground-breaking work done by Chicago architects on skyscrapers and once discussed merging firms with the legendary Daniel...
. It was built by the Port of New York Authority
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is a bi-state port district, established in 1921 through an interstate compact, that runs most of the regional transportation infrastructure, including the bridges, tunnels, airports, and seaports, within the Port of New York and New Jersey...
and opened on November 15, 1931, after dedication ceremonies were held the previous day.
The Port Authority is planning to rebuild the roadway higher within the existing arch to allow larger container ships to pass underneath.
Design
Ammann, the master bridge builder and chief architect of the Port Authority, chose the steel arch design after rejecting a cantileverCantilever bridge
A cantilever bridge is a bridge built using cantilevers, structures that project horizontally into space, supported on only one end. For small footbridges, the cantilevers may be simple beams; however, large cantilever bridges designed to handle road or rail traffic use trusses built from...
and suspension
Suspension bridge
A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. Outside Tibet and Bhutan, where the first examples of this type of bridge were built in the 15th century, this type of bridge dates from the early 19th century...
design as expensive and impractical for the site, given a requirement by the Port Authority that the bridge must be able to accommodate the future addition of rapid transit tracks.
The eventual design of the bridge called for a graceful arch that soars 266 feet (69 m) above the Kill Van Kull and supports a road
Road
A road is a thoroughfare, route, or way on land between two places, which typically has been paved or otherwise improved to allow travel by some conveyance, including a horse, cart, or motor vehicle. Roads consist of one, or sometimes two, roadways each with one or more lanes and also any...
bed for 1,675 feet (511 m) without intermediary pier
Pier
A pier is a raised structure, including bridge and building supports and walkways, over water, typically supported by widely spread piles or pillars...
s. The total length of the bridge is 8,640 feet (2,633 m) with a mid-span clearance above the water of 150 feet (46 m). The arch resembles a parabola
Parabola
In mathematics, the parabola is a conic section, the intersection of a right circular conical surface and a plane parallel to a generating straight line of that surface...
, but is made up of 40 linear segments.
The design of the steel arch is based on the Hell Gate Bridge
Hell Gate Bridge
The Hell Gate Bridge or Hell's Gate Bridge is a steel through arch railroad bridge between Astoria in the borough of Queens and Randall's and Wards Islands in New York City, over a portion of the East River known...
designed by Ammann's mentor, Gustav Lindenthal
Gustav Lindenthal
Gustav Lindenthal was a civil engineer who designed the Hell Gate Bridge among other bridges.Lindenthal's work was greatly affected by his pursuit for perfection and his love of art. His structures not only serve the purpose they were designed for, but are aesthetically pleasing to the public eye...
. Gilbert had designed an ornamental granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
sheathing over the steelwork as part of the original proposal, but as in the case of the George Washington Bridge
George Washington Bridge
The George Washington Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting the Washington Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City to Fort Lee, Bergen County, New Jersey. Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1/9 cross the river via the bridge. U.S...
, the stone sheathing was eliminated in order to lower the cost of the bridge, leaving the steel truss
Truss
In architecture and structural engineering, a truss is a structure comprising one or more triangular units constructed with straight members whose ends are connected at joints referred to as nodes. External forces and reactions to those forces are considered to act only at the nodes and result in...
es exposed. It was the first bridge to employ the use of manganese steel for the main arch ribs and rivets.
Construction
Construction on the bridge began in 1928, and eventually cost $13 million. When it opened on November 15, 1931, it was the longest steel arch bridge in the world. Although it was deliberately built a few feet longer than the Sydney Harbour BridgeSydney Harbour Bridge
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge across Sydney Harbour that carries rail, vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic between the Sydney central business district and the North Shore. The dramatic view of the bridge, the harbour, and the nearby Sydney Opera House is an iconic...
, David M. Dow, the Secretary for Australia in the United States, attended the dedication ceremony and noted that the bridge in Sydney was much larger and contained more than double the amount of steel. The same pair of golden shears used to cut the ribbon for the Bayonne Bridge was sent to Australia for the ribbon cutting of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
The supported roadway carries two lanes of traffic in each direction. The roadway deck could accommodate an expansion for either two traffic lanes or two light-rail lanes. A pedestrian walkway, cantilevered from the western side of the roadway, currently provides the only access by foot to Staten Island; at more or less normal walking speed, it takes approximately 25–30 minutes to walk from the street access on one side of the bridge to the street access on the other side. The Port Authority also permits bicycle
Bicycle
A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....
traffic, however the sidewalk ends abruptly at descending stairs on the New Jersey side. Due to safety concerns, bicycle riders are required to walk their bicycles across the bridge.
Toll
Toll bridge
A toll bridge is a bridge over which traffic may pass upon payment of a toll, or fee.- History :The practice of collecting tolls on bridges probably harks back to the days of ferry crossings where people paid a fee to be ferried across stretches of water. As boats became impractical to carry large...
s are collected on vehicles traveling into Staten Island (there is no toll for vehicles traveling into New Jersey).
As of September 18, 2011, the cash toll
Toll bridge
A toll bridge is a bridge over which traffic may pass upon payment of a toll, or fee.- History :The practice of collecting tolls on bridges probably harks back to the days of ferry crossings where people paid a fee to be ferried across stretches of water. As boats became impractical to carry large...
s going from New Jersey to Staten Island will be charged $12 for cars and $11 for motorcycles (there is no toll for passenger vehicles going from Staten Island to New Jersey). All E-ZPass
E-ZPass
E-ZPass is an electronic toll-collection system used on most tolled roads, bridges, and tunnels in the northeastern US, south to Virginia and West Virginia, and west to Illinois. Currently, there are 25 agencies spread across 14 states that make up the . All member agencies use the same technology,...
users will be charged $7.50 for cars and $6.50 for motorcycles during off-peak hours (outside of 6-10 am and 4-8 pm on the weekdays; and outside of 11 am - 9 pm on the weekends) and $9.50 for cars and $8.50 for motorcycles during peak hours (6-10 am and 4-8 pm on the weekdays; and 11 am - 9 pm on the weekends).
In September 2007, the New York City Transit Authority
New York City Transit Authority
The New York City Transit Authority is a public authority in the U.S. state of New York that operates public transportation in New York City...
began a limited-stop bus route (the
S89 ) that crosses the bridge. The route's termini are the Hylan Boulevard
Hylan Boulevard
Hylan Boulevard is a major northeast-southwest boulevard in the New York City borough of Staten Island. It is approximately long , and runs from the North Shore neighborhood of Rosebank to the South Shore neighborhood of Tottenville....
bus terminal in Eltingville, Staten Island
Eltingville, Staten Island
Eltingville is the name of a neighborhood on Staten Island, one of the five boroughs of New York City, USA. It is on the island's South Shore, immediately to the south of Great Kills and north of Annadale...
and the 34th Street Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Station
34th Street (HBLR station)
34th Street is a station on the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail located at Avenue E and East 34th Street in Bayonne, New Jersey.The station opened on April 22, 2000. Northbound service from the station is available to Hoboken Terminal...
in Bayonne. This is the first interstate bus service offered by the MTA
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (New York)
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the U.S...
.
In 2003, the bridge carried about 20,000 vehicles per day.
The Bayonne Bridge was designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers
American Society of Civil Engineers
The American Society of Civil Engineers is a professional body founded in 1852 to represent members of the civil engineering profession worldwide. It is the oldest national engineering society in the United States. ASCE's vision is to have engineers positioned as global leaders who strive toward...
in 1985.
Height problem and rebuilding plan
Newark Bay
Newark Bay is a tidal bay at the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in northeastern New Jersey. It is home to the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the largest container shipping facility in Port of New York and New Jersey, 3rd largest and one of busiest in the United States...
. Its clearance of between 151 to 156 ft (46 to 47.5 m) above the Kill Van Kull depending on the tide means that some of today's ships, which can reach 175 feet (53.3 m) above the waterline, must fold down antenna masts, take on ballast or wait for low tide to pass through. The problem will become more serious after the Panama Canal expansion project allows larger Panamax
Panamax
Panamax and New Panamax are popular terms for the size limits for ships traveling through the Panama Canal. Formally, the limits and requirements are published by the Panama Canal Authority titled "Vessel Requirements"...
ships to become commonplace.
The Port Authority is planning to raise the bridge's clearance to 215 feet (65.5 m) by building a new roadway above the existing roadway within the current arch structure. A gantry crane rolling on top of the arch would construct one rope-supported section of the new roadway at a time, using a temporary beam to support the existing roadway while each rope is replaced. The existing roadway would then be removed. The Port Authority has allocated $1 billion in its capital program to pay for the project, and believes it is possible to build the new roadway without interrupting traffic flow between Staten Island and Bayonne; however it is still reviewing the added costs of following such an approach. The Port Authority says its designs for this program will not preclude adding mass transit in the future. Extending the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail
Hudson-Bergen Light Rail
The Hudson–Bergen Light Rail is a light rail system in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Owned by New Jersey Transit and operated by the 21st Century Rail Corporation, it connects the communities of Bayonne, Jersey City, Hoboken, Weehawken, Union City , and North Bergen.The system began...
line to Staten Island over the bridge has been proposed.
The Port Authority commissioned a study of the question by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, completed in 2009, and authorized up to $10 million for planning and engineering services to develop options to deal with the bridge's low clearance. The Army Corps of Engineers study looked at three options to deal with the height-challenged bridge. The quickest option they identified was a $1.32 billion project to jack up the bridge to increase its height by 40 percent, which could be accomplished by 2019 at the earliest. It will need a clearance of 215 feet (65.5 m) to handle the new ships. Another option is to build a new cable-stayed bridge
Cable-stayed bridge
A cable-stayed bridge is a bridge that consists of one or more columns , with cables supporting the bridge deck....
, which would cost $2.15 billion and take until 2022. The most expensive option would be to get rid of the bridge altogether and replace it with a tunnel through which traffic would traverse under the Kill Van Kull. This option would take to 2024 to complete and cost $2.2 to $3 billion.
The Corps of Engineers estimated that raising the bridge would produce a $3.3 billion dollar national benefit, noting that 12% of all US international containers pass under the bridge. Congressmen from both New York and New Jersey are pressing the Port Authority to act quickly.
Appearances in popular culture
- The bridge was featured in the 2001 film A Beautiful MindA Beautiful Mind (film)A Beautiful Mind is a 2001 American drama film based on the life of John Nash, a Nobel Laureate in Economics. The film was directed by Ron Howard and written by Akiva Goldsman. It was inspired by a bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-nominated 1998 book of the same name by Sylvia Nasar...
. - The bridge has appeared in the HBOHome Box OfficeHBO, short for Home Box Office, is an American premium cable television network, owned by Time Warner. , HBO's programming reaches 28.2 million subscribers in the United States, making it the second largest premium network in America . In addition to its U.S...
prisonPrisonA prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
dramaDramaDrama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
Oz. - The bridge has appeared in the background on a few episodes on the Nickelodeon series The Adventures of Pete & PeteThe Adventures of Pete & PeteThe Adventures of Pete & Pete is an American children's television series produced by Wellsville Pictures and broadcast by Nickelodeon. The show featured humorous and surreal elements in its narrative, and many recurring themes centered on two brothers both named Pete Wrigley, and their various...
. - The bridge was featured in the 20052005 in film- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2005...
science fictionScience fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
film, War of the WorldsWar of the Worlds (2005 film)War of the Worlds is a 2005 American science fiction film adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel of the same name, directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Josh Friedman and David Koepp. It is one of three film adaptations of War of the Worlds released that year, alongside The Asylum's version and...
starring Tom CruiseTom CruiseThomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
, appearing in the background several times in the scenes set in the lead character's Bayonne home, and is destroyed in an attack by aliensExtraterrestrial lifeExtraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
.
Sources
- Shanor, Rebecca Read (1995),The Encyclopedia of New York City, Kenneth T. Jackson, ed. (Yale Univ.Press, New Haven)
- "Most liquor licenses? Bumpiest town? Local municipalities hold unusual distinctions,"Union City ReporterUnion City ReporterThe Union City Reporter is a weekly community newspaper serving Union City, in Hudson County, New Jersey. The newspaper is one of nine weekly publications produced by The Hudson Reporter Assoc., L.P. and is covered by reporter Gennarose Pope. The company's main office is located in Hoboken.Hudson...
, August 27, 2006.