The Atlantic Beach Bridge is a long

toll Toll may refer to: Transportation * Toll (fee) a fee charged for the use of a road or waterway ** Road pricing, the modern practice of charging for road use ** Road toll (historic), the historic practice of charging for road use ** Shadow toll, ...

drawbridge A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of moveable bridge typically at the entrance to a castle or tower surrounded by a moat. In some forms of English, including American English, the word ''drawbridge'' commonly refers to all types of moveable ...

carrying NY 878, connecting

Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...

and Atlantic Beach (Park Street),

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, while passing over the west end of

Reynolds Channel Reynolds Channel is a strait in Nassau County, New York that separates Long Beach Barrier Island, which contains the City of Long Beach and the villages of Atlantic Beach, Lido Beach, and Point Lookout, from Long Island, Barnum Island, Har ...

. The bridge also provides direct access to the

Rockaway Peninsula The Rockaway Peninsula, commonly referred to as The Rockaways or Rockaway, is a peninsula at the southern edge of the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, New York. Relatively isolated from Manhattan and other more urban parts of th ...

via Seagirt Boulevard. The original bridge opened in 1927, and the current bridge opened in 1952 and was rehabilitated in 1998. Typically, the toll is $2.00 (

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

) for vehicles under 5 tons (10,000 lb) in each direction as of January 1, 2007. Vehicles over 5 tons are $2 per axle. E-ZPass is currently not accepted, but it will add EZ-Pass in mid-2023 as part of the toll plaza refurbishment. An annual decal for Nassau County residents is $130.00 USD. The bridge is managed by the Nassau County Bridge Authority. The Nassau County Bridge Authority manages only one bridge.

History

The original bridge opened on June 29, 1927, and had a vertical clearance of only . The bridge reduced travel time to Atlantic Beach by 30 minutes. Traffic bottlenecked as populations grew on both sides of the bridge in the 1940s. On October 14, 1950, Governor

Thomas E. Dewey Thomas Edmund Dewey (March 24, 1902 – March 16, 1971) was an American lawyer, prosecutor, and politician who served as the 47th governor of New York from 1943 to 1954. He was the Republican candidate for president in 1944 and 1948: although ...

drove the first pile for the new Atlantic Beach Bridge. To accommodate the new six-lane span, Nassau County and New York City spent $2.5 million for approach road rights-of-way. The new Atlantic Beach Bridge, designed by Hardesty & Hanover, opened to traffic on May 10, 1952, at a cost of $9.5 million. Soon after the new span opened, the old bridge was demolished. The new span is long with a vertical clearance.Atlantic Beach Bridge
NYCRoads.com. Accessed October 29, 2007. In 1998, a $19 million project was begun to bring the bridge up to federal standards. It involved the reconstruction of the approaching roadways and replacement of the existing concrete bridge deck. The project was completed in November 2000. There have been allegations of

patronage Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

since the inception of the Nassau County Bridge Authority, which was created by the

New York Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an official t ...

in 1945 to manage the bridge. Though the construction costs of the bridge have long since been paid off, the tolls remain. A 1999 audit of the agency by

New York State Comptroller The New York State Comptroller is an elected constitutional officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the New York state government's Department of Audit and Control. The New York State Comptroller is the highest-paid state auditor or ...

Carl McCall Herman Carl McCall (born October 17, 1935) is an American politician of the Democratic Party. A former New York State Comptroller and New York State Senator, McCall was the Democratic candidate for Governor of New York in 2002. McCall was the ...

found many instances of patronage and mismanagement. The authority failed to seek competitive work for engineering work. In 1997, 71% of the bridge's budget was spent on personnel. The authority and local communities continue to resist toll conversion to E-ZPass. One community leader believes the resistance is not based on costs but because this would necessitate accounting of toll monies. Toll collection was temporarily suspended in mid-March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York. Tolls were reinstated at the beginning of June 2020.

References

External links

*
Article on NYCRoads.com
{{crossings navbox , structure = Crossings , place =

Jamaica Bay Jamaica Bay is an estuary on the southern portion of the western tip of Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The estuary is partially man-made, and partially natural. The bay connects with Lower New York Bay to the west, ...

and

, bridge = Atlantic Beach Bridge , bridge signs = , upstream =

Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge The Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge (originally Cross Bay Bridge or Cross Bay Parkway Bridge) is a toll bridge that carries Cross Bay Boulevard across Jamaica Bay in Queens, New York City, between Broad Channel and the Rockaway Peninsula. ...

, upstream signs = , downstream = LIRR Reynolds Channel Bridge

Long Beach Bridge The Long Beach Bridge is a twin drawbridge crossing Reynolds Channel, connecting Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of ...

, downstream signs = Toll bridges in New York (state) Bridges completed in 1927 Bridges completed in 1952 Bascule bridges in the United States Bridges in Nassau County, New York Road bridges in New York (state) Steel bridges in the United States Girder bridges in the United States Transportation buildings and structures in Nassau County, New York

History

See also

References

External links