The Alexander Hamilton Bridge is an eight-lane steel arch bridge that carries traffic over 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 Spuyte ...

between the boroughs of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

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 most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. It connects the

Trans-Manhattan Expressway Interstate 95 (I-95) is part of the Interstate Highway System and runs from Miami, Florida, to the Canada–United States border near Houlton, Maine. In the U.S. state of New York, I-95 extends from the George Washington Bridge in New Yo ...

in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan and the Cross-Bronx Expressway, as part of

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadi ...

and U.S. 1. The bridge opened to traffic on January 15, 1963, the same day that the Cross-Bronx Expressway was completed. For 2011, the

New York City Department of Transportation The New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) is the agency of the government of New York City responsible for the management of much of New York City's transportation infrastructure. Ydanis Rodriguez is the Commissioner of the Depart ...

, which operates and maintains the bridge, reported an average daily traffic (ADT) volume in both directions of 182,174, having reached a peak ADT of 192,848 in 1990.

Design

The total length of the bridge, including approaches, is . Its parallel main spans are long and provide of vertical clearance over the Harlem River at the center and of horizontal clearance. The bridge design included a set of spiraling ramps (colloquially known as "The Corkscrew") to connect to and from the Major Deegan Expressway (completed in 1964) and a

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide va ...

ramp connecting to the

Harlem River Drive The Harlem River Drive is a 4.20-mile (6.76 km) long north–south limited-access parkway in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It runs along the west bank of the Harlem River from the Triborough Bridge in East Harlem to 10th Avenue ...

, both of which are over below the level of the bridge, and access to Amsterdam Avenue.

History

After the

George Washington Bridge The George Washington Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting Fort Lee, New Jersey, with Manhattan in New York City. The bridge is named after George Washington, the first president of the Unite ...

to New Jersey was completed in 1931, vehicles traveling between New Jersey and the Bronx would travel over the

Washington Bridge The Washington Bridge is a -long arch bridge over the Harlem River in New York City between the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. The crossing, opened in 1888, connects 181st Street and Amsterdam Avenue in Washington Heights, Manhattan, ...

, which crosses the Harlem River just north of the present Alexander Hamilton Bridge. The Alexander Hamilton Bridge was planned in the mid-1950s to connect

Robert Moses Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid 20th century. Despite never being elected to any office, Moses is regarded ...

' proposed Trans-Manhattan and Cross-Bronx Expressways and to accommodate the additional traffic resulting from the addition of the six-lane lower level to the George Washington Bridge. With the

Interstate The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. T ...

designation, 90% of the $21 million in construction costs were covered by the federal government. The bridge opened on April 14, 1963. Starting in 2009, the bridge underwent a full renovation at an estimated cost of $400 million. While the

traffic jam Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s. When traffic d ...

s created from the construction had not been as bad as local officials had anticipated, inbound delays at the Hudson River crossings increased after the project began. In July 2014, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the bridge renovation was complete.

References

External links

New York State Department of Transportation
- Alexander Hamilton Bridge Project
NYC Roads: Alexander Hamilton Bridge
* *

*[http://205.156.4.52/cgi-bin/EyeSpy.dll?getbrww&D:/EyeSpy/images/Online_Chart_Viewer/12342.axs&750&550&1216&3296&2&bgcolor=%23FFFFFF&buttons=/cgi-bin/EyeSpyResources/buttons&alig=0&contenttype=image/jpeg&375&275 Nautical Chart #12342] NOAA. {{Alexander Hamilton Open-spandrel deck arch bridges in the United States Historic American Engineering Record in New York City U.S. Route 1 [ ategory:Interstate 95 Bridges completed in 1963

Bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

Washington Heights, Manhattan Bridges in Manhattan Robert Moses projects Bridges in the Bronx Road bridges in New York City Bridges on the Interstate Highway System Bridges of the United States Numbered Highway System Bridges over the Harlem River Steel bridges in the United States Morris Heights, Bronx

Design

History

See also

References

External links