The Alfred H. Smith Memorial Bridge is a

railroad bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

spanning the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

between Castleton-on-Hudson and

Selkirk, New York Selkirk is a hamlet in the town of Bethlehem, Albany County, New York, United States. It is located south of the city of Albany and is a suburb of that city. A major freight railyard operated by the Selkirk Subdivision of CSX Transportation ...

in the United States. The bridge is owned by

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

and was originally built for the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

, which was subsequently merged into the

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American Railroad classes, class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania Railroad ...

and then

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...

before being acquired by CSX. The bridge forms part of the

Castleton Subdivision The Castleton Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the U.S. state of New York. The line runs from Schodack northwest to Selkirk along a former New York Central Railroad line. At its southeast end, it junctio ...

of CSX. The bridge is named in honor of

Alfred Holland Smith Alfred Holland Smith (April 26, 1863 – March 8, 1924) was the President of New York Central Railroad from January 1914 to May 1918 and from June 1919 until his death. The entirety of Smith's forty-five-year career was dedicated to the railroads. ...

, the president of the New York Central Railroad who authorized the construction of this bridge as part of an extensive project known as the Castleton Cut-Off. He died in a horse-riding accident in

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

in 1924, prior to the completion of the bridge in that same year. He is sometimes confused with

Alfred E. Smith Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was an American politician who served four terms as Governor of New York and was the Democratic Party's candidate for president in 1928. The son of an Irish-American mother and a Civ ...

, New York's governor at the time. The bridge has been the southernmost rail freight route across the Hudson River since May 8, 1974, after a fire damaged the

Poughkeepsie Bridge The Walkway over the Hudson (also known as the Poughkeepsie Bridge, Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge, Poughkeepsie–Highland Railroad Bridge, and High Bridge) is a steel cantilever bridge spanning the Hudson River between Poughkeepsie, New York, ...

, further south. Rail freight traveling between

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

and all points south must take a detour along the Hudson River and across the bridge, a route known as the

Selkirk hurdle The Selkirk Hurdle is the term used by urban planners, railroad employees, politicians, and others to describe the route that must be taken by freight trains traveling between New York City and other points in downstate New York that are east of t ...

. The

Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel The Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel (also known as the Cross Harbor Rail Freight Tunnel) is a proposed freight rail transport tunnel under Upper New York Bay in the Port of New York and New Jersey between northeastern New Jersey and Long Island, inclu ...

project has been proposed as a direct route between Long Island and the US mainland, cutting across

New York Harbor New York Harbor is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York Bay near the East River tidal estuary, and then into the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of the United States. It is one of the largest natural harbors in t ...

History

The Alfred H. Smith Memorial Bridge was completed in 1924 to facilitate rail freight traffic, which was growing increasingly bottlenecked through Rensselaer. Steep grades west of Albany required delays of westbound traffic as additional engines were supplied or trains were broken into multiple sections to allow them to climb the hill. The bridge was opposed by rail workers and ferry operators, both of which feared loss of income as traffic moved south of the city. But, backed by Alfred H. Smith, the future President of the New York Central Railroad, contracts were awarded in 1921, with Walsh Construction Company receiving the bulk of the business. Bethlehem Steel's McClintic Marshall subsidiary built the bulk of the structural steel used in the bridge. Grading began in 1922 and the large concrete pedestal foundations were finished near the end of 1923. The steel trusses were begun in early 1924. By November the concrete deck was complete and New York Governor Alfred E. Smith formally opened the bridge, naming it the Alfred H Smith Memorial Bridge.

References

External links

* {{Crossings navbox , structure = Crossings , place =

, bridge = Alfred H. Smith Memorial Bridge , bridge signs = , upstream =

Castleton Bridge __NOTOC__ The Castleton Bridge is a cantilever truss bridge over the Hudson River, connecting Coeymans, Albany County with Schodack, Rensselaer County in New York. It carries the Berkshire Connector of the New York State Thruway {{Infobox ro ...

, upstream signs = , downstream =

Rip Van Winkle Bridge The Rip Van Winkle Bridge is a cantilever bridge spanning the Hudson River between Hudson, New York and Catskill (village), New York, Catskill, New York. Affording of clearance over the water, the structure carries New York State Route 23, NY 2 ...

, downstream signs = Railroad bridges in New York (state) Truss bridges in the United States Bridges over the Hudson River CSX Transportation bridges New York Central Railroad bridges Bridges completed in 1928 1928 establishments in New York (state) Steel bridges in the United States Bridges in Albany County, New York Bridges in Rensselaer County, New York

History

See also

References

External links