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| Introduction to DOT Bridges
Visit the DOT Library for our annual bridges and tunnels annual condition reports and bridge traffic volume reports.
Commissioner Sadik-Khan discusses DOT's efforts to make sure our bridges are safe.
Read Commissioner Sadik-Khan’s testimony on bridge safety before the City Council Committee on Transportation, September 17, 2007.
When New York City was consolidated in 1898, all the waterway bridges were placed under the jurisdiction of the Department of Bridges. In just over a decade, the Department designed, constructed, and opened 19 bridges throughout the City. Currently, the Division of Bridges, within New York City’s Department of Transportation (DOT), owns, operates, and/or maintains 789 structures, including 758 non-movable bridges, 25 movable bridges, and six tunnels. While the Division is responsible for the capital rehabilitation of the 61 culverts in Staten Island, maintenance and inspection responsibilities remain with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection.
Types of Bridges The East River Bridges
Waterway Bridges Under DOT Jurisdiction Frequently Asked Questions About Bridges New York City 's Movable Bridges Bridge Reconstruction Projects Current Capital Construction ProjectsBridge Design and Resident Engineering Inspection Service DOT is responsible for hundreds of bridges in New York City, including the four major East River crossings. But DOT does not oversee other major bridges or tunnels. Many bridges not under DOT Jurisdiction are the responsibility of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority or the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. There are no tolls on bridges operated by New York City DOT. The Division is comprised of six bureaus: Roadway Bridges; East River Bridges/Movable Bridges/Tunnels; Engineering Review; Bridge Maintenance/Inspections/Operations; Specialty Engineering and Construction; and Management Support Services. While each of the bureaus functions independently, their interdependence provides for greater coordination of bridge design and construction projects within the Department of Transportation, and with other concerned agencies and parties. While it is often assumed that bridges are massive structures, New York also has many small bridges. In addition, there are several different types of bridges, each built to serve a particular purpose.For example, Girder Span Bridges are used for short spans and may be simple or continuous. Examples include: the Hook Creek, Little Neck and Brooklyn Third Avenue bridges. Steel Arch Bridges consist of either a single arch or a series of arches and are often economical to build. An example is the twin-arched Washington Bridge over the Harlem River at West 181 Street, in Manhattan. Swing Bridges are supported on a center pier in the middle of a waterway and are opened by rotating horizontally on wheels riding on a circular track. Examples include the Grand Street, Macombs Dam, Ship Canal, and City Island bridges. Vertical Lift Bridges are movable bridges having roadways which may be raised in a manner similar to a building elevator by supporting end cables attached to rotating drums in towers on the sides of the stream. Examples include the 103rd Street Ward’s Island Foot Bridge and the Roosevelt Island Bridge to Queens. Retractile Bridges date back to medieval times. Although never a very popular design, they were used in the mid-19th century for narrow crossings where maximum horizontal clearance was required. Today the Carroll Street Bridge in Brooklyn and the Borden Avenue Bridge in Queens are the only remaining examples of this design and continue to provide excellent service.
Further Reading:
McCullough, David G. The Great Bridge (New York, Simon and Schuster, 1972)
Steinman, David The Builders of the Bridge: The Story of John Roebling and His Son (New York, Harcourt Brace, 1945) Brooklyn Bridge Bytes:
Said to have been inspired by the works of the eminent French architect Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, the landmark Williamsburg Bridge is the largest of the three suspension bridges that span the heavily-navigated East River. A gargantuan structure noted for its 35-story steel towers and ponderous stiffening trusses, the Williamsburg Bridge boldly reaches from Delancey Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan to Marcy Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Designed by Leffert L. Buck and architecturally embellished by Henry Hornbostel, the bridge took seven years and $30 million to construct. Upon its completion in 1903, it became the longest suspension bridge in the world, supplanting a record held by the Brooklyn Bridge for the previous two decades. The first elevated train went into service on the bridge in 1905.
Further Reading:
Reier, Sharon The Bridges of New York (New York, Quadrant Books, 1977)
Williamsburg Bridge Bytes:
An extensive reconstruction of the Williamsburg Bridge is now under way. The youngest of the three NYCDOT maintained suspension bridges that span the East River, the Manhattan Bridge was designed by Leon Moisseiff (1872-1943) and completed in 1909. Fitted with a splendid set of approaches designed by the renowned architectural team of Carrere and Hastings, the Manhattan Bridge is one of the most aesthetically pleasing of New York City's transportation structures. Daily, the bridge accommodates some 75,000 vehicles, 320,000 mass transit riders and 3000 pedestrians/bicyclists between Manhattan and Brooklyn. It supports seven lanes of vehicular traffic as well as four subway tracks upon which four transit train lines operate. The Manhattan Bridge is now undergoing a major rehabilitation. Read about the DOT's HOV2+ lane and truck regulations on the Manhattan Bridge created to reduce congestion and improve travel times. DOT Commissioner Sadik-Khan and Elected Officials Reopen Historic Manhattan Bridge Archway to Public
Further Reading:
Hopkins, H.J. A Span of Bridges; An Illustrated History (New York, Praeger Publishers, 1970)
White, Norval and Willensky, Elliot, eds. AIA Guide to New York City, Third Edition (San Diego, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988) Winpenny, Thomas R., Manhattan Bridge. The troubled story of a New York monument. (Easton PA, Canal History and Technology Press in association with the Smithsonian Institution, 2004) Manhattan Bridge Bytes:
The Queensboro Bridge is undergoing a major rehabilitation. Further Reading:
Burr, William Report on Design and Construction of Queensboro Bridge (New York, 1908)
Huxtable, Ada Louise The Architecture of New York(Garden City, Doubleday, 1964) Queensboro Bridge Bytes:
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