Why New York Lifted the Bayonne Bridge

Discover the engineering marvel behind the unprecedented transformation of the Bayonne Bridge! Join us to uncover the strategic reasons why New York elevated this iconic structure by 64 feet, revolutionizing its role in global trade and transportation. Explore the innovative motives and impact of this historic lift in our concise video explanation.

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IT’S HISTORY – Weekly Tales of American Urban Decay as presented by your host Ryan Socash.

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Editor – Karolina Szwata
Host – Ryan Socash
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The Bayon Bridge is a sight to behold it is one of the four bridges that connect Staten Island with the rest of the world which says a lot as there was a time when going to and from Staten Island was a massive hassle in fact at the time of

Its completion it was the longest steel arch bridge in the world a record it held for about 45 years even the Bayon commune in France congratulated the US government for this achievement so join me as we discover the history of New York’s Bayon bridge I’m your host Ryan soash and you’re watching its History the Staten Island Ferry is regarded as the busiest ferry route in the entirety of the United States the orange boat has been a staple of the city for years but its role and function has changed over time these days it’s an exciting activity a fun ride but for a

Long time it was the only way to reach the secluded burrow even the lenpy Native Americans used boats to Traverse the waterways and by the early 18th century private boats started moving residents to and from Staten Island Cornelius vanderbelt the Staten Island entrepreneur who would go on to become

One of the richest people on the planet started a fery service in 1810 that connected the Island to Manhattan an action that in fact was all part of a much greater scheme as the then US vice president Daniel D Tomkin secured a charter for the Richmond Turnpike company in 1817 in order to

Develop the village of tomkinsville which would rely on this fery service however in 1838 Vanderbilt bought the company and in turn expanded the fery service after changing hands a couple of times the ferry ultimately ended in the hands of the city of New York while the ride may have been charming and fanciful

It was not practical times were changing and so was Transportation the state government of New York and New Jersey understood this all too well an interstate Authority called the Port Authority of New York was established in 1921 to improve Regional Transportation and promote Metropolitan Commerce to put

It simply the body had to ensure there were enough tunnels sea ports airports and of course Bridges to facilitate efficient commutes in Staten Island was a major bottleneck for growth for context let’s have a look at this map if you didn’t know any better you almost assume that this land mass belongs to

New Jersey but the answer is obviously no Staten Island became one of the five major Burrows of New York and the reasons for this are let’s just say complicated some oral fables talk about a captain who sailed around the island within 24 hours and claimed it for New

York yes I realize that sounds absurd so let’s just say that for one reason or another the island became a part of New York but you can’t change geography can you New Jersey was not going anywhere so the Port Authority planned Three Bridges to connect it with Staten Island the

Reasons were straightforward they wanted free flowing traffic in the greater New York metropolitan region a network of Highways and bridges would ensure this the first was the Outerbridge Crossing named after the authorities first chairman eugenius H Outerbridge that connecting Perth Amboy New Jersey to New York with the gothos bridge connecting

New York to Elizabeth New Jersey the first two Bridges finished Construction in 1928 and 1931 when finally the Bayon Bridge connected Bayon Hudson County New Jersey to Port Richmond Staten Island the ladder was constructed so that people who worked in lower Manhattan but lived in Staten Island could commute

Easily the Holland Tunnel was also constructed in 1927 for similar purposes both structures would help reduce the traffic load on the Outer Bridge and the gothal and critically both allowed direct access to Manhattan from the burrow the first two Bridges were up and running but the third was still in its

Planning phase the Port Authority was weighing its options some earlier plans proposed building a tunnel but these were abandoned The Authority insisted that the structure should be future proof and accommodate potential Rapid Transit tracks the top brass called upon Swiss American Civil Engineer AAR H Aman and his Consulting architect Cass

Gilbert for the job they instructed them to design a structure that would be both functional and beautiful to comply with the demands they put on their thinking hats and went for something a little different The Bridge originally carried a walkway and two lanes in each Direction but could be altered to

Accommodate additional Lanes Transportation planners thought that given the growing traffic volumes the bridge would prove too narrow within the next few decades the Bridge’s design was based on New York City’s 1917 Hellgate Bridge the longest steel arch bridge in the world at the time which you can also

Learn about in our previous video anyhow Aman had previously worked on the project as a chief assistant to engineer gustoff lindenthal but his love for Bridges was much older than that a bridge in the town of sha Housen had reportedly inspired the Swiss born Amon to pursue engineering he graduated from

Zurich’s prestigious poly Technic and made his way to the United States after analyzing the collapse of the Quebec bridge that killed 75 people in 1907 he became a part of major projects like the George Washington Bridge and of course the Bon Bridge he was humble but ambitious and his plans reflected that

Attitude he developed a scheme for a single arched shaped trust to cross the underlying Kil van straight in the opening ceremony he explained his decision in the following choice of words quote the Port Authority recognized the fact that its structures must not only be useful but they must

Also conform to the aesthetic sense this was one of the motives for the selection of an arch spanning the entire River in one sweeping graceful curve since the bridge has to cross a body of water Common Sense dictates that the structure should be placed at a right angle to

Save resources but contrary to popular wisdom the site selected for construction crossed the straight at a 58° angle towards the shoreline lining up perfectly with the Bergen Point ferry route to play The Devil’s Advocate yes the bridge would be longer and hence would require more resources that

However was not the case the idea seemed nonsensical at first glance but doing so proved beneficial by preserving the street pattern for both towns saving the city overhead costs accommodating the towns was great but the authority also had to preserve the shipping Lane below the passageway from the Atlantic Ocean

Into Newark Bay and the hackin sack and the pic River was a key shipping channel to the ports of Newark and Elizabeth so the roadway was designed to be 151 ft above water level offering water level clearin for the US Navy’s tallest ships at the time Alman and Gilbert introduced

Two viaducts at either end the Port Richmond Viaduct was around 2,000 ft long and the Bayon Viaduct was around 3,000 ft long supported by peers ranging from 20 to 110 ft these approach Viaduct allowed the ships to pass under the suspended Road deck under the central Arch and achieving this was no simple

Task most arches are built using a temporary support system that mirrors the curve but following that model would have compromised one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world so Aman had to get creative with his Solutions and device a different idea to cope with the situation so Engineers used hydraulic

Jacks to support the sides of the arch false workor was a much better approach as the solid rock bottom provided a much better Foundation but it is important to note that false work on a span of this size and magnitude had never been used so it was a new experiment an earlier

Calver and suspension design was rejected since it would have necessitated a bumpman towers and heavy anchorages the crew used 40 truss segments that would be assembled off site then brought to the bridge propped up into position and joined to the previously assembled section construction commenced in September of

1928 with the Project’s final completion date set in 1932 it was supposed to cost $16 million to construct which comes to around $273 million today however it only cost $13 million or 222 million when adjusted for inflation moreover the bridge was constructed ahead of schedule a full year before its deadline which is

Amazing especially when considering that this was the longest single bowed bridge in the world the adage haste makes waste did not apply to this Marvel of architecture and engineering so how exactly did the city end up saving both time and money on this project Cass Gilbert had proposed Granite sheathing

For the structure but the Great Depression had hit the United States to SA the budget those plans were scrapped allowing the project to reduce both time and cost the same was done in the case of the George Washington Bridge as well it was not a major loss as the BAM

Bridge still turned out to be one of the most iconic sites in the region its elegant arches make it a sight to behold the bridge has a span of 1,675 Ft the longest in the world at the time the record was surpassed in 1977 by the New River Gordon bridge in West

Virginia with an arch of 1,700 ft the Sydney Harbor Bridge that opened in Australia a year later fell just 5 ft short another impressive point was the BAM Bridge’s lightweight design for context the sister bridge in Sydney weighed about 70,000 short tons whereas the Bayon Bridge weighed in at 16,000

Short tons The Bridge opened for the public on November the 15th 1931 and on that inaugural day 17 18,000 vehicles and 7,000 pedestrians made their way across it the Australian Bridge following a very similar design began functioning Just 4 months later and it needs to be pointed out that the

Similarity between these two Bridges was so symbolically important that they both featured a pair of engraved golden shears at inauguration where the governor of New Jersey Morgan Larsson New York State Controller Morris train and the secretary for Australia to the United United States David M Da Cut the

Ribbons at the Bon Bridge toll plaza the shears were then sent to the mayor of North Sydney to cut the ribbon on the Sydney Harbor Bridge they were later dismantled so each country could keep one blade as a momento in 1931 the American Institute for steel construction acknowledged that there is

A symmetry and finess of detail about the Bayon bridge that is impressive and almost haunting they named it quote the most beautiful Steel Bridge in the world ahead of the George Washington Bridge and the Anthony Wayne Bridge in Ohio but the most impressive achievement of all is perhaps Aman and Gilbert’s

Calculations building a bridge like this was unheard of at the time there was no way to know if the theoretical calculations would yield practical rewards and it was not always smooth sailing for the crew compression tests were done for various metals most importantly of course was manganes steel

It formed the largest columns and was being used for the first time on a project like this the manganese steel was primarily used for the main Arch ribbons and the 1 and a/4 in rivets it was chosen for its high strength and cheaper price compared to Nickel steel with the secondary stresses being

Re-evaluated and measured on site workers employed the Brian formula which allowed Engineers to figure out how much stress would caused the structure to buckle since minor issues are fairly common in big projects the Swiss Engineers pioneering Spirit remains commendable when the second world war reared its head the space under the

Bridge became a storage site with the land below the bridge on the Staten Island side allegedly becoming a Dumping Ground for the Manhattan Project’s uranium with some claiming that radioactive materials polluted the site to no end and has not ever been completely cleaned up with that being

Said to the best of our research it’s very difficult to discern if this is New York legend or true history with the post war years brought a lot of little additions in 1951 the city of beong collaborated with the port authority to redesign the toll plaza and introduce

Shrubbery and benches the Port Authority authorized the use of adjacent land for building Julet Street playground a new toll plaza was added in 1964 and by 1970 toll collection was implemented at the Port Richmond Plaza for vehicles entering the island the verzano narrow bridge was also opened in 1964 providing

A direct route from Staten Island to Brooklyn the American Society of civil engineers or asce designated the Bayon Bridge a National Historic civil engineering Landmark similarly in 1988 they designated the Sydney Harbor Bridge as an international historic civil engineering landmark by the 1990s the traffic on the bridge proved no cause

For concern tarnishing the predictions of the bridges original planners the BAM bridge is Staten Island’s least used Crossing with around 7 million Vehicles every year the four bridges made the commute so comfortable that you might even say New Yorkers started treating That Old Ferry like an adventure on the

Sea the cost of a ferry ride to Staten Island never exceeded a quarter and hence the ride itself is a nice deal but then in 1997 New York city mayor Rudy Giuliani showed his support to the people of Staten Island by eliminating that cost altogether the ferry ride

Remains free to this day but the important point is that giuliani’s gesture is indicative of a much larger Trend you see whereas the traffic on the bridge may not have been alarming the traffic below it certainly was over the decades there has been an increase in marit trade and the technological

Advancements have led to much bigger vessels this effect has been felt in the Kil van Cole in addition to the ships getting larger Naval traffic has also increased the bridge was too low for large containers and high tide only made things more complicated even for medium-sized ships a lot of regularized

Vessels would often wait for low tide or fold down antennas and Mast the port of New York and New Jersey could potentially lose a lot of business to other ports like South Carolina and Charleston and something had to be done the Port Authority which was renamed to

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in 1972 commissioned the US Army Corps of Engineers to analyze and study the situation in 2009 they authorized $10 million to the core for planning and Engineering a worthwhile solution different options were considered including building a new cable State Bridge costing approximately 2.15

Billion USD which at the time would have been completed by 2022 then there was a tunnel proposition costing 2 to $2.3 billion that would have been constructed by 20124 and then finally there was the concept of a vertical lift span which was quickly abandoned ultimately the team spent $1.7 billion to raise the

Bridges roadway in 2019 the 150 ft were not enough so they raised the bridges roadway by 215 ft the US Coast Guard was asked to do an environmental review the review cost $2 million contained 5,000 pages of review and took four years to complete making it their quickest review

For a major project however the toxic waste we alluded to earlier was still set to be there so the Newark and Staten Island residents demanded a full environmental review but but the Port Authority decided to make doe with an expedited version of the process so in turn a Staten Island community group the

NorthShore Waterfront Conservancy filed a complaint with the US Environmental Protection Agency against the Port Authority of New York in New Jersey the complaint pointed out that the Port Authority had failed to factor in lead pcbs and asbest that would be released into the air The Authority responded that it had developed a construction

Health and safety plan to ensure federal and state regulations were followed however during construction area residents complained of dust clouds billing in front of their houses and paint chips on the sidewalks not to mention the constant sound of Machinery at night noise and debris became a big

Concern hence the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced the raise the road project starting in 2013 and finishing in 2017 with an assumed cost of around $1 billion there was a reason for this hassle the expansion of the Panama Canal was to be completed by 2016

Allowing larger ships from Asia to reach the East Coast hence streamlining this process helped the government bring in more business from there the Port Authority shortlisted five companies for the job in 2012 and by 2013 the Port Authority awarded a $743 million cont ract to a joint venture and almost immediately

Construction started on a roadway above the current one the arch would be sustained for its iconic look and stature support columns were built and Gantry trains placed prefabricated Road segments into position while a temporary beam supported the existing roadway new floor beams were attached to the Arch’s ropes and support steel stringers the

Walkway was quickly closed for reconstruction and and the old roadway was eventually removed it was also planned that the new roadway would increase Lane width from 10 ft to 12 however unfavorable weather conditions caused massive delays on the project which as you might imagine caused negative effects to the port traffic and

Commerce so with that in mind a revised timeline was announced the then US President Barack Obama insisted that the state governments of New York in New Jersey make the project a priority as it would help the national economy by facilitating crucial ports in February of 2017 the Eastern roadway opened for

Traffic the two lanes continued to function as they had before well work continued on the two new Lanes eventually the project widened the road deck from 40 ft to 60 providing wider Lanes shoulders a medium barrier and a bike path added in May of 2019 the Port Authority installed a fully

Automated and cashless electronic toll collection system the Western roadway traffic was completed in February of 2019 allowing traffic to flow in two lanes in each Direction the bayam bridge has continued to function as intended as well as becoming something of an icon in pop culture from its 2005 feature in

Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds as well as an appearance in the HBO drama on then in 2020 the AC awarded the bridge for outstanding civil engineering achievements and also celebrated the restoration process for the crews ability to keep both the road and the Sea traffic open the renovation of the

Bon bridge is part of a larger narrative around the need for substantial investment in infrastructure across the United States it highlights the importance of strategic infrastructure projects to improve trans Transportation efficiency enhance economic competitiveness and address aging infrastructure the architectural Marvel stands as an emblem of American

Ingenuity and a symbol of progress and Innovation with that being said I’m your host Ryan soash signing off