Queensboro Bridge

The Queensboro, officially the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, but known by locals by one of two other names depending on the side, is a cantilever bridge over the East River in New York City. Completed in 1909, it connects the Long Island City neighborhood in the borough of Queens with the East Midtown and Upper East Side neighborhoods in Manhattan, passing over Roosevelt Island. Because the western end of the bridge connects to 59th Street in Manhattan, it is also called the 59th Street Bridge by Manhattanites. The bridge consists of five steel spans measuring 3,725 ft (1,135 m) long; including approaches, its total length is 7,449 ft (2,270 m). The Queensboro Bridge carries New York State Route 25 (NY 25), which terminates at the bridge's western end in Manhattan. The bridge has two levels: an upper level with a pair of two-lane roadways, and a lower level with four vehicular lanes flanked by a walkway and a bike lane. The western leg of the Queensboro Bridge is paralleled on its northern side by the Roosevelt Island Tramway. The bridge is one of four vehicular bridges directly connecting Manhattan Island and Long Island, along with the Williamsburg, Manhattan, and Brooklyn bridges to the south. It lies along the courses of the New York City Marathon and the Five Boro Bike Tour. Serious proposals for a bridge linking Manhattan to Long Island City were first made as early as 1838, but various 19th-century plans to erect such a bridge, including two proposals by Queens doctor Thomas Rainey, never came to fruition. After the creation of the City of Greater New York in 1898, plans for a city-operated bridge were finalized in 1901. The bridge opened for public use on March 30, 1909, and was initially used by pedestrians, horse-drawn and motor...