The Henry Hudson Bridge is a

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

arch An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...

toll bridge A toll bridge is a bridge where a monetary charge (or ''toll'') is required to pass over. Generally the private or public owner, builder and maintainer of the bridge uses the toll to recoup their investment, in much the same way as a toll road. ...

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 ...

across the

Spuyten Duyvil Creek Spuyten Duyvil Creek () is a short tidal estuary in New York City connecting the Hudson River to the Harlem River Ship Canal and then on to the Harlem River. The confluence of the three water bodies separate the island of Manhattan from th ...

. It connects Spuyten Duyvil in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

with Inwood in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

to the south, via the

Henry Hudson Parkway The Henry Hudson Parkway is a parkway in New York City. The southern terminus is in Manhattan at 72nd Street, where the parkway continues south as the West Side Highway. It is often erroneously referred to as the West Side Highway throughout i ...

(

NY 9A New York State Route 9A (NY 9A) is a state highway in the vicinity of New York City in the United States. Its southern terminus is at Battery Place near the northern end of the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel in New York City, where it inters ...

). On the Manhattan side, the parkway goes into

Inwood Hill Park Inwood Hill Park is a public park in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. On a high schist ridge that rises above the Hudson River from Dyckman Street to the n ...

. Commercial vehicles are not permitted on this bridge or on the parkway in general. The bridge is operated by

MTA Bridges and Tunnels The Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (TBTA), trade name, doing business as MTA Bridges and Tunnels, is an affiliate agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority that operates seven toll bridges and two tunnels in New York City. In t ...

, an affiliate agency of the

Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the New York City metropolitan area of the U.S. state of New York. The MTA is the largest public transit authority in th ...

Design

The bridge was designed by David B. Steinman, drawing upon his 1911

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. Named to commemorate the voyage of

Henry Hudson Henry Hudson ( 1565 – disappeared 23 June 1611) was an English sea explorer and navigator during the early 17th century, best known for his explorations of present-day Canada and parts of the northeastern United States. In 1607 and 160 ...

on the '' Half Moon'', which anchored near the site in 1609, it was the longest plate girder arch and fixed arch bridge in the world when it opened in 1936. The bridge has two roadway levels carrying a total of seven traffic lanes and a pedestrian walkway and spans Spuyten Duyvil Creek just east of where the

tidal strait A tidal strait is technically not a river but a strait connecting two oceans or seas. Tidal straits are narrow seaways through which tidal currents flow. Tidal currents are usually unidirectional but sometimes are bidirectional. They are frequen ...

meets 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 ...

. The bridge is part of the

New York State Route 9A New York State Route 9A (NY 9A) is a state highway in the vicinity of New York City in the United States. Its southern terminus is at Battery Place near the northern end of the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel in New York City, where it inter ...

. To its west, at five feet above water level, is the

Spuyten Duyvil Bridge The Spuyten Duyvil Bridge is a railroad swing bridge that spans the Spuyten Duyvil Creek between Manhattan and the Bronx, in New York City. The bridge is located at the northern tip of Manhattan where the Spuyten Duyvil Creek meets the Hudson ...

, which is used by

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

trains to

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

and other points north. The Spuyten Duyvil Metro-North station is under the Henry Hudson Bridge on the Bronx side.

History

A bridge at this location was proposed as early as 1906, but Spuyten Duyvil residents and other civic groups opposed the bridge, arguing that it would destroy the virgin forest of Inwood Hill Park and bring traffic congestion to Bronx communities.

Robert Moses Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid 20th century. Despite never being elected to any office, Moses is regarded ...

preferred the route along the Hudson River because he was able to receive the land to build the Henry Hudson Parkway at no cost and use federal labor to build the parkway. The construction of the bridge helped open the Riverdale neighborhood to development. The original single-deck structure was built for the Henry Hudson Parkway Authority by the

American Bridge Company The American Bridge Company is a heavy/civil construction firm that specializes in building and renovating bridges and other large, complex structures. Founded in 1900, the company is headquartered in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pitt ...

at a cost of $4.949 million and opened on December 12, 1936. The upper level of the bridge was designed to be added at a later date and opened to traffic on May 7, 1938. The second deck was added at an additional cost of about $2 million, after toll revenues allowed its construction. A rehabilitation project commenced in 2000 and was carried out by Steinman, Boynton, Gronquist and Birdsall, a successor of David B. Steinman's firm. Repairs took place nearly continuously for at least a decade, at a cost of $160 million. The bridge was renovated from late 2017 to late 2020. The $86 million project replaced the last remnants of the original upper and lower decks, reopened the pedestrian and cycling path, eliminated the lower-level toll booth, upgraded roadway lighting, and made seismic improvements.

Tolls

As of April 11, 2021, drivers pay $7.50 per car or $4.28 per motorcycle for tolls by mail/non-NYCSC E-Z Pass. E ZPass users with transponders issued by the New York E ZPass Customer Service Center pay $3.00 per car or $2.05 per motorcycle. Mid-Tier NYCSC E-Z Pass users pay $4.62 per car or $3.17 per motorcycle. The original toll was 10 cents. In January 2010, the MTA announced that it planned to implement a

pilot program A pilot study, pilot project, pilot test, or pilot experiment is a small-scale preliminary study conducted to evaluate feasibility, duration, cost, adverse events, and improve upon the study design prior to performance of a full-scale research pr ...

on the Henry Hudson Bridge to phase out toll booths and use

open road tolling Open road tolling (ORT), also called all-electronic tolling, cashless tolling, or free-flow tolling, is the collection of tolls on toll roads without the use of toll booths. An electronic toll collection system is usually used instead. The ma ...

. On January 20, 2011, this toll pilot project got underway. Drivers without E-ZPass are sent a bill in the mail. The new tolling system was implemented on November 10, 2012, and has since been implemented on all nine MTA crossings. On November 20, 2016, the tollbooths were dismantled, as drivers were no longer able to pay cash at the bridge. Instead, cameras and E-ZPass readers are mounted on new overhead gantries manufactured by

TransCore Roper Technologies, Inc. (formerly Roper Industries, Inc.) is an American diversified industrial company that produces engineered products for global niche markets. The company is headquartered in Sarasota, Florida. Roper provides a wide range ...

near where the booths were located. A vehicle without E-ZPass has a picture taken of its license plate and a bill for the toll is mailed to its owner. For E-ZPass users, sensors detect their transponders wirelessly.

References

Notes

External links

NYC Roads
entry * {{Authority control Bridges completed in 1936 Bridges in Manhattan Bridges in the Bronx Bridges over the Harlem River Double-decker bridges Inwood, Manhattan Open-spandrel deck arch bridges in the United States Pedestrian bridges in New York City Plate girder bridges in the United States Road bridges in New York City Robert Moses projects Spuyten Duyvil, Bronx Steel bridges in the United States Toll bridges in New York City Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority Bridge light displays