Third Avenue Bridge | |
---|---|
Coordinates | 40°48′27″N73°55′57″W / 40.8076°N 73.9325°W |
Carries | 5 lanes of Third Avenue |
Crosses | Harlem River |
Locale | Manhattan and the Bronx, New York City |
Other name(s) | 3rd Avenue Bridge |
Owner | City of New York |
Maintained by | NYCDOT [1] |
Preceded by | Madison Avenue Bridge |
Followed by | Willis Avenue Bridge |
Characteristics | |
Design | Swing bridge |
Total length | 2,800 feet (853.44 m) [1] |
Longest span | 300 feet (91.44 m) [1] |
History | |
Construction cost | $119 million [1] |
Opened | August 1, 1898 [1] |
Rebuilt | December 6, 2004 |
Statistics | |
Daily traffic | 55,096 (2016) [2] |
Location | |
The Third Avenue Bridge is a swing bridge that carries southbound road traffic on Third Avenue over the Harlem River, connecting the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx in New York City. It once carried southbound New York State Route 1A. On the Manhattan side, the bridge funnels traffic into three locations: East 128th Street; the intersection of East 129th Street and Lexington Avenue; or FDR Drive in Manhattan.
The bridge was formerly bidirectional, but converted to one-way operation southbound on August 5, 1941 on the same day the Willis Avenue Bridge was similarly converted to one-way northbound. [3] In 1955, the original multi-truss bridge constructed in 1898 was removed and sold. [4] A rebuilt bridge reopened in December 1956. [5]
As part of a major NYCDOT reconstruction project from 2001-2005, a new swing span was floated into place on October 29, 2004. Two lanes of Manhattan-bound traffic opened on December 6, 2004, and the remaining three lanes opened in 2005. In addition to replacing the swing span and its machinery, the project included redesigned approach ramps to the bridge on the Bronx side and off the bridge in Manhattan. As reconstructed, the Third Avenue Bridge carries five lanes of Manhattan-bound traffic from the Bronx, which split to three ramps in Manhattan: to East 128th Street and Second Avenue; to Lexington Avenue and East 129th Street; and to FDR Drive.
For 2011, the New York City Department of Transportation, which operates and maintains the bridge, reported an average daily traffic volume of 59,603; the bridge reached a peak ADT of 73,121 in 2000. [6] Between 2000 and 2014, the bridge opened for vessels 93 times, including 60 times in 2007. [7]
On July 8, 2024, during the 2024 North America heat waves, the bridge suffered from heat expansion and got stuck in the open position, so vehicles could not cross it. The New York City Fire Department sprayed water onto the bridge to cool it down. [8]
The Third Avenue Bridge carries the M125 bus route operated by MTA New York City Transit. The route's average weekday ridership is 19,951. [9]
Discovery Channel contracted Barner-Alper Productions of Toronto to produce an episode of Mega-Builders, titled "Spanning the Harlem", about the work leading up to the float-in of the swing span. [10] It first aired in 2005 in Canada on Discovery Canada. [10]
Fordham station, also known as Fordham–East 190th Street station, is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem and New Haven Lines, serving Fordham Plaza in the Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx, New York City. The platforms are situated just below street level and feature two expanded side platforms that serve eight cars each, on the outer tracks. The station building sits above the tracks on the Fordham Road overpass, and still bears the name New York Central Railroad on its facade. The station is among the busiest rail stations in the Bronx.
The Broadway Bridge is a vertical-lift bridge across the Harlem River Ship Canal in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It connects the neighborhoods of Inwood on Manhattan Island and Marble Hill on the mainland. The bridge consists of two decks. The lower deck carries Broadway, which is designated as U.S. Route 9 at this location. The upper deck carries the New York City Subway's IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line, serving the 1 train.
The IRT Third Avenue Line, commonly known as the Third Avenue Elevated, Third Avenue El, or Bronx El, was an elevated railway in Manhattan and the Bronx, New York City. Originally operated by the New York Elevated Railway, an independent railway company, it was acquired by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and eventually became part of the New York City Subway system.
Third Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan, as well as in the center portion of the Bronx. Its southern end is at Astor Place and St. Mark's Place. It transitions into Cooper Square, and further south, the Bowery, Chatham Square, and Park Row. The Manhattan side ends at East 128th Street. Third Avenue is two-way from Cooper Square to 24th Street, but carries only northbound (uptown) traffic while in Manhattan above 24th Street; in the Bronx, it is again two-way. However, the Third Avenue Bridge carries vehicular traffic in the opposite direction, allowing only southbound vehicular traffic, rendering the avenue essentially non-continuous to motor vehicles between the boroughs.
The Willis Avenue Bridge is a swing bridge that carries road traffic northbound over the Harlem River between the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx, United States. It connects First Avenue in Manhattan with Willis Avenue in the Bronx. The New York City Department of Transportation is responsible for maintaining and operating the bridge.
The Macombs Dam Bridge is a swing bridge across the Harlem River in New York City, connecting the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. The bridge is operated and maintained by the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT).
The Madison Avenue Bridge is a four-lane swing bridge crossing the Harlem River in New York City, carrying East 138th Street between the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. It was designed by Alfred P. Boller and built in 1910, doubling the capacity of an earlier swing bridge built in 1884. The bridge is operated and maintained by the New York City Department of Transportation.
The 145th Street Bridge is a four-lane swing bridge across the Harlem River in New York City, connecting West 145th Street and Lenox Avenue in Manhattan with East 149th Street and River Avenue in the Bronx. The bridge is operated and maintained by the New York City Department of Transportation.
The University Heights Bridge is a steel-truss revolving swing bridge across the Harlem River in New York City. It connects West 207th Street in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan with West Fordham Road in the University Heights neighborhood of the Bronx. The bridge is operated and maintained by the New York City Department of Transportation.
The B44 is a public transit line in Brooklyn, New York City, running mostly along Nostrand Avenue, as well as northbound on Rogers Avenue or New York Avenue and Bedford Avenue, between Sheepshead Bay and Williamsburg. Originally a streetcar line, it is now the B44 bus route, operated by the New York City Transit Authority.
The First and Second Avenues Line, also known as the Second Avenue Line, is a bus route in Manhattan, New York City, running mostly along Second Avenue from Lower Manhattan to East Harlem. Originally a streetcar line along Second Avenue, it is now the M15 bus route, the busiest bus route in the city and United States, carrying 16.4 million riders annually. MTA Regional Bus Operations, under the New York City Bus and Select Bus Service brands, operates the local out of the Tuskegee Airmen Bus Depot and the SBS from the Mother Clara Hale Bus Depot. Service is operated with articulated buses, unless supplemental service is needed.
The Eighth Avenue Line is a public transit line in Manhattan, New York City, running mostly along Eighth Avenue from Lower Manhattan to Harlem. Originally a streetcar line, it is now the M10 bus route and the M20 bus route, operated by the New York City Transit Authority. The M10 bus now only runs north of 57th Street, and the M20 runs south of 66th Street. The whole line was a single route, the M10, until 2000 when the M20 was created.
The Bx12 is a public transit line in New York City running along the 207th Street Crosstown Line, within the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. The line runs along 207th Street in Upper Manhattan and along the continuous Fordham Road and Pelham Parkway in the Bronx.
Select Bus Service is a service provided by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)'s Regional Bus Operations for limited-stop bus routes with some bus rapid transit features in New York City. The first SBS route was implemented in 2008 to improve speed and reliability on long, busy corridors.
MTA Regional Bus Operations (RBO) is the surface transit division of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). It was created in 2008 to consolidate all bus operations in New York City operated by the MTA. As of February 2018, MTA Regional Bus Operations runs 234 local routes, 71 express routes, and 20 Select Bus Service routes. Its fleet of 5,840 buses is the largest municipal bus fleet in the United States and operates 24/7. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 730,924,600, or about 2,531,200 per weekday as of the second quarter of 2024.
The 129th Street station was a transfer station on the IRT Third Avenue Line in Manhattan, New York City, shared by elevated trains of both the Third Avenue Line and IRT Second Avenue Line. The next stop to the north was 133rd Street for the main line and Willis Avenue for the Willis Avenue spur, both of which were across a swing bridge above the Harlem River in the Bronx. The next stop to the south was 125th Street−Third Avenue for Third Avenue Line trains and 125th Street−Second Avenue for Second Avenue Line trains.
Since 1963, New York City has been using a system of bus lanes that are intended to give priority to buses, which contain more occupants than passenger and commercial vehicles. Most of these lanes are restricted to buses only at certain days and times, but some bus lanes are restricted 24/7. As of May 2021, there are 138.4 miles (222.7 km) of bus lanes within New York City.
The Bx15 and M125 bus routes constitute the Third Avenue/125th Street Line, a public transit line in New York City. The Bx15 runs between Fordham Plaza and the Hub in the Bronx, running primarily along Third Avenue. The M125 runs between the Hub in the Bronx and Manhattanville in Manhattan, running along Willis Avenue in the South Bronx and along 125th Street in Harlem, Manhattan.
The 34th Street Crosstown Line is a surface transit line on 34th Street in Manhattan, New York City, United States. It currently hosts the M34/M34A SBS routes of MTA's Regional Bus Operations. The M34 runs from 12th Avenue to FDR Drive via 34th Street, while the M34A runs from Port Authority Bus Terminal to Waterside Plaza.