The Third Avenue Bridge is a

swing bridge A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that can be rotated horizontally around a vertical axis. It has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravit ...

that carries southbound road traffic on

Third Avenue Third Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan, as well as in the center portion of the Bronx. Its southern end is at Astor Place and St. Mark's Place. It transitions into Cooper Square ...

over the

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

, connecting the

boroughs A borough is an administrative division in various English language, 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 ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

and

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. It once carried southbound New York State Route 1A. On the Manhattan side, the bridge funnels traffic into three locations: East 128th Street; the intersection of East 129th Street and

Lexington Avenue Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated as "Lex", is an avenue on the East Side (Manhattan), East Side of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street (Manhattan), 131st Street to Gra ...

; or FDR Drive in Manhattan. The bridge was formerly bidirectional, but converted to one-way operation southbound on August 5, 1941 on the same day the Willis Avenue Bridge was similarly converted to one-way northbound. In 1955, the original multi-truss bridge constructed in 1898 was removed and sold. A rebuilt bridge reopened in December 1956.

Reconstruction

As part of a major NYCDOT reconstruction project from 2001-2005, a new swing span was floated into place on October 29, 2004. Two lanes of Manhattan-bound traffic opened on December 6, 2004, and the remaining three lanes opened in 2005. In addition to replacing the swing span and its machinery, the project included redesigned approach ramps to the bridge on the Bronx side and off the bridge in Manhattan. As reconstructed, the Third Avenue Bridge carries five lanes of Manhattan-bound traffic from the Bronx, which split to three ramps in Manhattan: to East 128th Street and Second Avenue; to Lexington Avenue and East 129th Street; and to FDR Drive. For 2011, the New York City Department of Transportation, which operates and maintains the bridge, reported an average daily traffic volume of 59,603; the bridge reached a peak ADT of 73,121 in 2000. Between 2000 and 2014, the bridge opened for vessels 93 times, including 60 times in 2007. On July 8, 2024, during the 2024 North America heat waves, the bridge suffered from heat expansion and got stuck in the open position, so vehicles could not cross it. The

New York City Fire Department The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) is the full-service fire department of New York City, serving all Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs. The FDNY is responsible for providing Fi ...

sprayed water onto the bridge to cool it down.

Public transportation

The Third Avenue Bridge carries the bus route operated by MTA New York City Transit. The route's average weekday ridership is 19,951.

TV documentary

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

contracted Barner-Alper Productions of Toronto to produce an episode of ''Mega-Builders'', titled "Spanning the Harlem", about the work leading up to the float-in of the swing span. It first aired in 2005 in Canada on Discovery Canada.

References

External links

*
NYCRoads.com: Third Avenue Bridge Historic Overview

New York City Department of Transportation - Harlem River Bridges

NYC DoT Third Avenue Bridge
{{Spoken Wikipedia, Third_Avenue_Bridge_(New_York_City).ogg, date=2019-6-28 Bridges completed in 1898 Bridges in Manhattan Bridges in the Bronx Bridges over the Harlem River Harlem Road bridges in New York (state) Swing bridges in the United States Pedestrian bridges in New York City Third Avenue