The Harlem River Lift Bridge (also known as the Park Avenue Bridge) is a

vertical lift bridge A vertical-lift bridge or just lift bridge is a type of movable bridge in which a span rises vertically while remaining parallel with the deck. The vertical lift offers several benefits over other movable bridges such as the bascule and sw ...

carrying the

Metro-North Railroad Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a public authority of the U.S. state of New York and under contract with the Connectic ...

's Hudson Line,

Harlem Line The Metro-North Railroad Harlem Line, originally chartered as the New York and Harlem Railroad, is an commuter rail line running north from New York City to Wassaic, in eastern Dutchess County. The lower from Grand Central Terminal to Sou ...

, and

New Haven Line The Metro-North Railroad New Haven Line is a commuter rail line running from New Haven, Connecticut to New York City. It joins the Harlem Line at Mount Vernon, New York and continues south to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. The New Haven ...

across the

Harlem River The Harlem River is an tidal strait in New York, United States, flowing between the Hudson River and the East River and separating the island of Manhattan from the Bronx on the New York mainland. The northern stretch, also called the Spuyt ...

between the

boroughs A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The average weekday ridership on the lines is 265,000.Commuter Rail Transit Ridership Report First Quarter 2010, p. 5
,

American Public Transportation Association The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) is a nonprofit group of approximately 1,500 public and private sector member organizations that promotes and advocates for the interests of the public transportation industry in the United S ...

, June 1, 2010. Accessed June 27, 2010.

History

First bridge

The first bridge on this site was constructed by the

New York and Harlem Railroad The New York and Harlem Railroad (now the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line) was one of the first railroads in the United States, and was the world's first street railway. Designed by John Stephenson, it was opened in stages between 1832 and ...

in 1841. It was composed of four -long

box truss A box truss is a structure composed of three or more ''chords'' connected by transverse and/or diagonal structural elements. Application Box trusses are commonly used in certain types of aircraft fuselages, electric power pylons, large radio an ...

spans, three of which were fixed iron spans, while the remaining span was a wooden

swing span A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravity, about which the swing span (turning span) can then pi ...

. In the closed position, the bridge had a clearance of only seven feet above mean high water. Masonry piers supported the four box-truss spans. In 1867, the wooden drawbridge was replaced with an iron one that gave a clearance of 50 feet. By the 1880s, the bridge was crossed by more than 200 trains a day.

Second and third bridges

M8s on Park Avenue lift bridge, July 2014

The 1867 bridge was soon made obsolete by heavy traffic and dredging of the

Harlem River Ship Canal Spuyten Duyvil Creek () is a short tidal estuary in New York City connecting the Hudson River to the Harlem River Ship Canal and then on to the Harlem River. The confluence of the three water bodies separate the island of Manhattan from t ...

. In 1888, the

United States Department of War The United States Department of War, also called the War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army, ...

began work on the

to allow for unrestricted shipping activity between the Hudson River and the East River and through the new Harlem River Ship Canal at 225th Street. The New York Central was opposed to the project as the increase in river traffic would interfere with its rail line, which was only above the water. In 1890, the

New York and Northern Railway The New York and Putnam Railroad, nicknamed the Old Put, was a railroad line that operated between the Bronx and Brewster in New York State. It was in close proximity to the Hudson River Railroad and New York and Harlem Railroad. All three cam ...

, a competitor of the New York Central which operated freight traffic to the Bronx shore which relied upon barges to ship its freight, complained to the Department of War about delays to its traffic due to the New York Central's low bridge. To remedy the situation, the Central could have raised the bridge to above the water to satisfy the Department of War, allowing most vessels to cross under the bridge, for $300,000 or replaced it with a tunnel to satisfy the Harlem community for $3 million. The railroad opted to raise the bridge, which was the only four-track drawbridge in the country at the time. Alfred P. Boller worked with the railroad to create the new four-tracked swing bridge. However, due to political pressure, it had to raise the grade of its line north of 115th Street on a viaduct, raising the project's cost significantly. In 1892, a law was passed establishing the Board of Park Avenue Improvement, and under the terms of the law, New York City was to pay for half of the project, with the remainder paid for by the New York Central. The new bridge was to be -long and was built for about $500,000 by the King Bridge Company. The new bridge was to be higher than the old bridge, as mandated by the Federal Government, making it above the water. The Park Avenue Line's grade had to be raised to allow it to reach the higher bridge, and as a result, a new four-track steel viaduct was built between 132nd Street and 106th Street. During the course of construction, trains were to run over a temporary wooden structure along with a temporary two-track wooden drawbridge. The cost of the entire project was to be $2 million. At the time, construction was expected to begin on September 1, 1893. The work was divided into four sections. The bridge's design was underway in 1894, and in February of that year, the project was expected to be completed in December 1895. Service continued to operate while the complex work proceeded through a procedure involving the installation of temporary wooden trestles, trusses, and the installation of columns. On February 15, 1897, trains on the Harlem Division started running over the new drawbridge over the

and the elevated structure connecting to it. The Department of War ordered that the bridge cannot be opened during peak hours, between 7 and 10 a.m. and 4 and 7 p.m.

Current bridge

Between 1954 and 1956, the New York Central Railroad built a fourth rail bridge on this site, this time a

vertical-lift bridge A vertical-lift bridge or just lift bridge is a type of movable bridge in which a span rises vertically while remaining parallel with the deck. The vertical lift offers several benefits over other movable bridges such as the bascule and sw ...

, to replace the 1897 bridge. The new bridge opened in 1956. The four-track bridge remains in use today and consists of two parallel double-track spans, long. It has of clearance when closed and when open. During the 1960s, the bridge came under the ownership of several different companies, including

Penn Central Railroad The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania, New York Central and the ...

. Metro-North operates it, referring to it as the Harlem River Lift Bridge.

References

External links

* {{Park Avenue Metro-North Railroad Bridges completed in 1956 Vertical lift bridges in New York City Bridges in the Bronx Railroad bridges in New York City New York Central Railroad bridges New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad bridges Bridges in Manhattan Bridges over the Harlem River Steel bridges in the United States