Bronx Kill - Randalls Island - New York City

Randalls Island Connector north thru Pier 15 jeh

The Bronx Kill is a narrow strait in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

delineating the southernmost extent of

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 ...

. It separates the Bronx from

Randalls Island Randalls Island (sometimes called Randall's Island) and Wards Island are conjoined islands, collectively called Randalls and Wards Islands, in New York County, New York City,

. It connects the

Harlem River The Harlem River is an tidal strait in New York, United States, flowing between the Hudson River and the East River and separating the island of Manhattan from the Bronx on the New York mainland. The northern stretch, also called the Spuyt ...

to the

East River The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Quee ...

History

Originally, the Bronx Kill was a sizeable waterway, approximately in width. As of 1917, there were also plans by the

War Department War Department may refer to: * War Department (United Kingdom) * United States Department of War (1789–1947) See also * War Office, a former department of the British Government * Ministry of defence * Ministry of War * Ministry of Defence * D ...

to dredge a deep channel, in width, to improve navigation and reduce tidal currents. For this reason, in the early 20th century the

New York Connecting Railroad The New York Connecting Railroad or NYCR is a rail line in the borough of Queens in New York City. It links New York City and Long Island by rail directly to the North American mainland. Amtrak, CSX, Canadian Pacific Railway, Providence a ...

built a movable bridge across the Bronx Kill on the approach to the

Hell Gate Bridge The Hell Gate Bridge, originally the New York Connecting Railroad Bridge or the East River Arch Bridge, is a steel through arch railroad bridge in New York City. Originally built for four tracks, the bridge currently carries two tracks of Amtr ...

. Similarly, the truss bridge of the

Triborough Bridge The Robert F. Kennedy Bridge (RFK Bridge; formerly known and still commonly referred to as the Triborough Bridge) is a complex of bridges and elevated expressway viaducts in New York City. The bridges link the boroughs of Manhattan, Queens, a ...

across the Bronx Kill was designed to be convertible to a lift bridge. However, much of the Bronx Kill was later filled in to expand the parkland on Randalls Island.

Navigation

The Bronx Kill offers a venue for kayakers and other human-powered boaters without the worry of larger vessel traffic. Canoe and kayak expeditions through the waterway begin on the Harlem River, near the Third Avenue Bridge. Crossings must be well timed for the tides, to ensure both the correct current direction and sufficient water height: at low water, parts of the Bronx Kill entirely bottom out, revealing muddy stretches, and assorted debris. There is also low

air draft Air draft (or air draught) is the distance from the surface of the water to the highest point on a vessel. This is similar to the " deep draft" of a vessel which is measured from the surface of the water to the deepest part of the hull below th ...

under the Randalls Island Connector. Consequently, no commercial vessels navigate the kill, with local businesses mostly opting instead for road and rail transport, including the Oak Point Link along its north bank.

21st century

In 2001, the

New York Power Authority The New York Power Authority (NYPA), officially the Power Authority of the State of New York, is a New York State public-benefit corporation. It is the largest state public power utility in the United States. NYPA provides some of the lowest-co ...

offered to construct a pedestrian bridge linking the Bronx with Randalls Island—part of the agency's remuneration to the community for building two new power plants in the South Bronx. That plan, however, fell by the wayside when local officials argued that an improved Triborough Bridge path would be sufficient. The state authority instead paid for energy efficiency measures in the borough as a whole, including a

green roof A green roof or living roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. It may also include additional layers such as a root barrier and drainage ...

on the

Bronx County Courthouse The Bronx County Courthouse, also known as the Mario Merola Building, is an historic courthouse building located in the Concourse and Melrose neighborhoods of the Bronx in New York City. It was designed in 1931 and built between 1931 and 1934. ...

. At the time, the two sidewalks of the Triborough Bridge's Bronx Kill span were connected to one long ramp at the Randalls Island end. This provides difficult access. Following years of negotiation for land with the operators of the

Harlem River Yards Harlem River Yards (also known as Harlem River Yard Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...

, provides pedestrian and bicycle access between the island and the Port Morris neighborhood of the Bronx and to the

South Bronx Greenway The South Bronx Greenway is a project to improve waterfront access, recreational facilities, and transportation systems, including pedestrian and bicycle paths, in the South Bronx in New York City. Early planning The project was first envisio ...

. The connector opened in November 2015. A 2006 plan for a

water park A water park (or waterpark, water world) is an amusement park that features water play areas such as swimming pools, water slides, splash pads, water playgrounds, and lazy rivers, as well as areas for floating, bathing, swimming, and other baref ...

—the first in the nation for a large city—on the northwest corner of Randalls Island was controversial. Announced by the Giuliani administration as a $48 million, project, the proposal expanded to encompass at a projected cost of $168 million before being cancelled in 2007.

References

External links

Friends of Brook Park
{{coord, 40, 47, 57, N, 73, 55, 11, W, display=title Randalls and Wards Islands Straits of New York County, New York Straits of Bronx County, New York Port Morris, Bronx