Spuyten Duyvil Bridge
Spuyten Duyvil Bridge | |
---|---|
Empire Connection (1 track) | |
Crosses | Harlem River |
Locale | Manhattan and the Bronx, New York City |
Characteristics | |
Design | Railroad swing bridge |
Total length | 610 feet (190 m)[1] |
Longest span | 286 feet (87 m)[2] |
Clearance below | 5 feet (1.5 m)[1] |
History | |
Opened | 1900 |
Location | |
The Spuyten Duyvil Bridge is a railroad swing bridge that spans the Spuyten Duyvil Creek between Manhattan and the Bronx, in New York City. The bridge is located at the northern tip of Manhattan where the Spuyten Duyvil Creek meets the Hudson River, approximately 1,000 feet (300 m) to the west of the Henry Hudson Bridge.
The Spuyten Duyvil Bridge was built to carry two tracks but now carries only a single track on the eastern side of the span. It is part of the
History
A wooden railroad drawbridge across the Spuyten Duyvil was first constructed by the
The current steel bridge was designed by Robert Giles and constructed in 1900. The piers rest on pile foundations in the riverbed.[1][5] The bridge consists of three fixed sections as well as a 290-foot-long (88 m) swing section, which can swivel nearly 65 degrees and leave a 100 feet (30 m) of clearance on each side.[4] The swing span weighed 200 tons and had enough space to fit two tracks.[6]
By 1935, there were 70 trains a day using the Spuyten Duyvil Bridge, but after World War II, usage declined. In 1963, the steam motor that powered the swing span was replaced with an electric motor. The bridge was slightly damaged three years later, when the swing span was struck by a boat, leaving it stuck in the open position for two weeks.[4] Trains stopped running across the Spuyten Duyvil Bridge in 1982 and the following year the bridge was damaged by a vessel and was left unable to close.[7][4]
The bridge was rehabilitated in the late 1980s.
In June 2018, Amtrak used the
Incidents
- On the evening of February 16, 2004, an 80-year-old woman mistakenly drove her car onto the bridge from the Bronx side of the river and was hit by a Penn Station-bound Amtrak train. The passenger train carried the automobile for a distance of 250 feet (76 m) along the tracks. She survived with only minor injuries.[13]
- During the early morning hours of October 24, 2010, a fire broke out on the bridge, suspending train service until later that evening.[14][15]
- A boat ran into the bridge at around 4:20pm on May 29, 2016, causing major delays on the Empire Corridor, as the bridge was required to be inspected before trains could use it again. No injuries were reported in the incident.[16]
Gallery
-
An aerial view showing the Henry Hudson Bridge (foreground) and the Spuyten Duyvil Bridge
-
Spuyten Duyvil Bridge from the Spuyten Duyvil Metro North station.
-
The Bronx end of the Spuyten Duyvil Bridge when the swing is open
References
Notes
- ^ New York Times. Retrieved July 26, 2009.
- ^ a b Rolwood, Craig; Ostrovsky, Alex (2004). "Spuyten Duyvil Emergency Response to Navigation Strikes" (PDF). Conference Proceedings. American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association. Retrieved July 4, 2011.
- ISBN 0-8232-1680-2.
- ^ a b c d e Gray, Christopher (March 6, 1988). "STREETSCAPES: Spuyten Duyvil Swing Bridge; Restoring a Link In the City's Lifeline". The New York Times. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
- .
- ^ Engineering News-record. McGraw-Hill Publishing Company. 1900. p. 345. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
- ^ Renner, James (March 2001). "Spuyten Duyvil Swing Bridge". Washington Heights & Inwood Online. Archived from the original on January 6, 2006. Retrieved February 7, 2010.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Johnson, Kirk (July 7, 1988). "Amtrak Trains To Stop Using Grand Central". The New York Times. Retrieved July 26, 2009.
- ^ Staff (April 7, 1991). "Travel Advisory; Grand Central Trains Rerouted To Penn Station". The New York Times. Retrieved July 26, 2009.
- ^ Staff (June 13, 2018) "Spuyten Duyvil Bridge moved for upgrades" News12 Bronx
- ^ Martinez, Jose (June 14, 2018) "Massive crane lifts Spuyten Duyvil Bridge for repairs" NY1
- ^ "Amtrak Resumes Service of Five Popular Train Routes at New York Penn Station" (Press release). Amtrak. September 4, 2018.
- )
- ^ "Spuyten Duyvil Bridge Burned Over Weekend". The Riverdale Press. October 25, 2010. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
- ^ Anderson, Eric (October 24, 2010). "Amtrak Service to NYC Restored". Times Union. Albany. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
- ^ Zauderer, Alyssa (May 29, 2016) "Amtrak service on Empire Line suspended after boat strikes Spuyten Duyvil Bridge" WPIX 11 News
External links
- History of the Spuyten Duyvil Swing Bridge | Washington Heights NYC