Wednesday, July 29, 2015

The Unicycle Bridge Tour Celebrates the High Bridge Reopening



The Unicycle Bridge Tour participated in the High Bridge Festival, July 25, 2015, celebrating the re-opening of New York City’s oldest standing bridge.

Special Thanks to:
Adrian Sas, Producer, It’s My Park, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation
Anthony Sama, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation
Lauren Sylvester, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation
Scott Ritter, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation
Jennifer Lantzas, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation


Rob Hickman, Abdullah Muhaimin Wright, Ken Springle, Rodrigo Sanz

View the June 11, 2015 Unicycle Bridge Tour High Bridge crossing at: unicyclenycbridgetour.blogspot.com/2015/06/420-high-bridge.html

Monday, July 27, 2015

#450 Stone Bridge, gift of Alfred W. Jenkins, Brooklyn Botanic Garden


Stone Bridge, gift of Alfred W. Jenkins, 1929, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
July 27, 2015, Keith Nelson, Rob Hickman

Done as part of 'Forbidden Pleasures', an annual event for BBG staff. Cycling is not permitted in the garden. Special Thanks to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Julie Lang and Scot Medbury.

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

#449 Discovery Garden Bridge, Brooklyn Botanic Garden


Discovery Garden Bridge, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Landscape Architects.
July 27, 2015, Rob Hickman, Keith Nelson

Done as part of 'Forbidden Pleasures', an annual event for BBG staff. Cycling is not permitted in the garden. Special Thanks to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Julie Lang and Scot Medbury.

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

#448 Stone Bridge, gift of Mrs. John Hills, Brooklyn Botanic Garden


Stone Bridge, gift of Mrs John Hills, 1929, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
July 27, 2015, Rob Hickman, Keith Nelson

Done as part of 'Forbidden Pleasures', an annual event for BBG staff. Cycling is not permitted in the garden. Special Thanks to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Julie Lang and Scot Medbury.

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

#447 Native Flora Garden Bridge, Brooklyn Botanic Garden


Native Flora Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
July 27, 2015, Rob Hickman, Keith Nelson

Done as part of 'Forbidden Pleasures', an annual event for BBG staff. Cycling is not permitted in the garden. Special Thanks to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Julie Lang and Scot Medbury.

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

From bbg.org:
BBG’s Native Flora Garden expansion—a recently planted area that features a cultivated pine barrens and a meadow modeled after Long Island's Hempstead Plains—was installed a century after BBG first established its Local Flora Section. Part of BBG's Campaign for the Next Century, the new habitats include 150 native species, many of them rare or threatened and most propagated from seeds legally collected from the wild. The project furthers the Garden’s effort in plant conservation and reinforces its role as a resource for learning about native ecosystems.

#446 Stone Bridge, gift of Alfred T. Jenkins, Brooklyn Botanic Garden


Stone Bridge, gift of Alfred T. Jenkins, 1939, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
July 27, 2015, Rob Hickman, Keith Nelson

Done as part of 'Forbidden Pleasures', an annual event for BBG staff. Cycling is not permitted in the garden. Special Thanks to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Julie Lang and Scot Medbury.

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

#445 Stone Arch Bridge, Brooklyn Botanic Garden


Stone Arch Bridge, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
July 27, 2015, Keith Nelson, Rob Hickman

Done as part of 'Forbidden Pleasures', an annual event for BBG staff. Cycling is not permitted in the garden. Special Thanks to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Julie Lang and Scot Medbury.

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

#444 Japanese Garden rustic bridge, Brooklyn Botanic Garden


Japanese Garden rustic bridge, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
July 27, 2015, Rob Hickman, Keith Nelson

Done as part of 'Forbidden Pleasures', an annual event for BBG staff. Cycling is not permitted in the garden. Special Thanks to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Julie Lang and Scot Medbury.

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

#443 Japanese Garden bridge, Brooklyn Botanic Garden


Japanese Garden bridge, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
July 27, 2015, Keith Nelson, Rob Hickman

Done as part of 'Forbidden Pleasures', an annual event for BBG staff. Cycling is not permitted in the garden. Special Thanks to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Julie Lang and Scot Medbury.

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

From bbg.org:
The Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden is one of the oldest and most visited Japanese-inspired gardens outside Japan. It is a blend of the ancient hill-and-pond style and the more recent stroll-garden style, in which various landscape features are gradually revealed along winding paths. The garden features artificial hills contoured around a pond, a waterfall, and an island while carefully placed rocks also play a leading role. Among the major architectural elements of the garden are wooden bridges, stone lanterns, a viewing pavilion, the torii or gateway, and a Shinto shrine.

The Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden is an excellent place to experience the cherry blossom season from April to May as over two dozen trees from BBG's diverse collection are planted here.

The Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden was the first Japanese garden to be created in an American public garden. It was constructed in 1914 and 1915—at an initial cost of $13,000, a gift of early BBG benefactor and trustee Alfred T. White—and it first opened to the public in June 1915. It is considered to be the masterpiece of its creator, Japanese landscape designer Takeo Shiota (1881–1943). Shiota was born in a small village about 40 miles from Tokyo, and in his youth spent years traversing Japan on foot to explore the natural landscape. In 1907 he came to America, driven by an ambition to create, in his words, "a garden more beautiful than all others in the world."

The Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden underwent a major restoration in 1999 and 2000, with generous funding from the Brooklyn Delegation of the New York City Council, the New York State 1996 Clean Water/Clean Air Bond Act, Independence Community Foundation, and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Auxiliary.

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

#442 Pedestrian Bridge over Holland Tunnel Rotary at St. John’s Park


Pedestrian Bridge over Holland Tunnel Rotary at St. John’s Park
June 24, 2015, Keith Nelson, Rob Hickman

ride time: 2:01:40
distance: 11.07 miles
ride link


View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

From Wikipedia:

The Holland Tunnel Rotary is a traffic circle at the eastern end of the Holland Tunnel in Lower Manhattan in New York City, United States. Owned and operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey it serves as an entryway into the city at the end of Interstate 78. The rotary is within the city block in Tribeca bounded by Laight, Varick, Beach and Hudson Streets. The land which it is situated has undergone several significant transformations since the American colonial era, having been farmland, a city square, and a rail freight depot.

In 1920 the New Jersey Interstate Bridge and Tunnel Commission and the New York State Bridge and Tunnel Commission appropriated funds and began construction on what was then referred to as the Hudson River Vehicular Tunnel, and is now the Holland Tunnel. Soon after it's opening in 1927, the freight terminal was removed to make room for the eastbound exits in the of the form a one-way circular road, or rotary. Traffic patterns were re-assigned in 1958. Renovations to the rotary which included adding an additional, or fifth, exit were completed in 2004. The inner portion of the rotary is not accessible to pedestrians.

The interior of the rotary was the site of St. John's Rotary Arc, a sculpture by Richard Serra, from 1980 to 1987. Joie de Vivre, a sculpture by Mark di Suvero, was situated in the rotary between 1998 and 2006. In 2010, the AIA Guide to New York City called the interior space a "circular wasteland" and commented: "Our ancestors preserved many a New York treasure, but blew it here."

#441 Pedestrian Balcony at Pier 49, Hudson River Park AIDS Memorial


Pedestrian Balcony at Pier 49, Hudson River Park AIDS Memorial
June 24, 2015, Rob Hickman, Keith Nelson

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

From hudsonriverpark.org

The quote engraved into the black granite bench reads: “I can sail without wind, I can row without oars, but I cannot part from my friend without tears.”

This memorial — a 42-foot-long curved stone bench situated on a granite path cut into the lawn situated in a beautifully landscaped knoll near Bank Street. The path is complemented by a balcony that juts out over the river where Pier 49 once stood.

The old pilings, still visible above the water, are a poignant metaphor for the lives lost to AIDS. The memorial is intended to be used as a place for people to sit and contemplate those who have been lost.

Dedicated on the 20th Anniversary of World AIDS Day, November 30th, 2008, this permanant monument was built by the AIDS Monument Committee (AMC) to commemorate those who have died from the disease, those who live with HIV, those who have cared for people with HIV/AIDS, and the educators and researchers who will one day eradicate it.

#440 Hudson River Greenway Span at W. 10th Street


Hudson River Greenway Span at W. 10th Street
June 24, 2015, Rob Hickman, Keith Nelson

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

#439 Southernmost Finger Pier to Holland Tunnel Ventilation Shaft (Pier 34)


Southernmost Finger Pier to Holland Tunnel Ventilation Shaft (Pier 34)
June 24, 2015, Keith Nelson, Rob Hickman

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

From The New York Times:

On New Pier, A Necessity Brings Amenity
By ANDREW JACOBS
Published: October 20, 1996

Say, heaven forbid, a smoky fire forced you from your vehicle while you were driving to New Jersey through the Holland Tunnel. Until recently, if you followed the emergency exit signs out of the tunnel, you would find yourself 900 feet off shore from Canal Street on a concrete island in the Hudson River. There, dwarfed by a six-story ventilation structure that looks like a cross between a smokestack and an Art Deco folly, rescue boats would be sent to bring stranded passengers back to land.

Recognizing the hazards of such rescue scenarios, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has just finished work on a narrow finger that connects the island to Manhattan. And just across from the emergency access pier is an identical one that has a less urgent function as a place where local anglers can fish for stripped bass, crabs and eels, and strollers can enjoy the Hudson River views.

Pier 34, which opened Friday evening with a light and sound show that is to run every night through next Sunday. They are the first new piers to be built on the river in 35 years. The Port Authority originally had planned to build only the emergency access pier, but at the urging of state officials, the agency agreed to build an adjacent pier for public recreational use.

"This is a nice bonus that grew out of practical concerns over access," said Terry Benczik, a spokeswoman for the Port Authority, which provided $1 million of the pier's $8.5 million construction cost. The state Department of Transportation, which owns the pier, paid the remaining cost.

The 18-foot-wide recreational pier, dotted with cedar benches and white metal lamp posts, will be maintained by the Hudson River Park Conservancy, a subsidiary of the Empire State Development Corporation.

"This is another opportunity for New Yorkers to confront the Hudson again," said James A. Ortenzio, the conservancy's chairman. Mr. Ortenzio said he hoped Pier 34 would be a precedent for other agencies, that use piers on the river. "There's no question that public access should be a requisite part of any project that takes place along the Hudson," he said.

Marcy Benstock, executive director of the Clean Air Fund and a staunch opponent of new construction on the Hudson River, believes that the money used to build the additional pier would have been better spent refurbishing an existing pier. "I think one should have been sufficient for both recreation and emergency access," she said.

Many of those who passed by the new pier Friday were curious about the ventilation shaft looming on the horizon. "It's a bit disturbing," said Barbara Sheridan, a writer who lives on Horatio Street. "But it does draw you in."

#438 Tribeca Bridge over The West Side Highway - NY 9A


Tribeca Bridge over The West Side Highway - NY 9A
June 24, 2015, Keith Nelson, Rob Hickman

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

From Wikipedia:

The Chambers Street Bridge or the Tribeca Bridge, was built in 1994 to improve connections for the northern part of Battery Park City. It connects Stuyvesant High School inside Battery Park City and the property of the Borough of Manhattan Community College. Although an exit to the street level on the Battery Park City side of the span exists, the bridge connects directly into Stuyvesant High School, making it a favorable point of access for many of the students there. Designed by Skidmore Owings and Merrill, its lighting display at night has earned it the 1996 IES/NY Lumen Lighting Award.

#437 Pedestrian Bridge at Collect Pond Park


Pedestrian Bridge at Collect Pond Park
June 24, 2015, Keith Nelson, Rob Hickman

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

From Wikipedia:

The Collect Pond — or Fresh Water Pond — was a body of fresh water in what is now Chinatown, lower Manhattan in New York City. For the first two centuries of European settlement in Manhattan, it was the main water supply for the growing city. The former pond became the site of a jail and is now a city park, Collect Pond Park, which includes a pond evocative of its former status.

The pond occupied approximately 48 acres (190,000 m2) and as deep as 60 feet (18 m).[1] Fed by an underground spring, it was located in a valley, with Bayard Mount (at 110 feet or 34 metres, the tallest hill in lower Manhattan) to the northeast and Kalck Hoek (Dutch for Chalk Point, named for the numerous oyster shell middens left by the indigenous Native American inhabitants) to the west.

A stream flowed north out of the pond and then west through a salt marsh (which, after being drained, became a meadow by the name of "Lispenard Meadows") to the Hudson River, while another stream issued from the southeastern part of the pond in an easterly direction to the East River.

The southwestern shore of the Collect Pond was the site of a Native American settlement known as Werpoes. A small band of Munsee, the northernmost division of the Lenape, occupied the site until the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam was established. It is possible that members of this band were the participants in the famed sale of Manhattan (Manahatta) to the Dutch.

The Collect Pond and Five Points on the topographical map by Egbert Viele. The Five Points intersection is where Mosco Street (marked here as Park Street) intersected with Baxter Street (formerly Orange Street) and Worth Street (formerly Anthony Street). In the 18th century, the pond was used as a picnic area during summer, and a skating rink during the winter. However, industries began to use the water and dump waste there. These included tanneries, breweries, ropewalks, and slaughterhouses.

Beginning in the early 18th century, various commercial enterprises were built along the shores of the pond, in order to use the water. These businesses included Coulthards Brewery, Nicholas Bayard's slaughterhouse on Mulberry Street (which was nicknamed "Slaughterhouse Street"), numerous tanneries on the southeastern shore, and the pottery works of German immigrants Johan Willem Crolius and Johan Remmey on Pot Bakers Hill on the south-southwestern shore. By the late 18th century, the pond was already considered "a very sink and common sewer".

The contaminated wastewater of these businesses flowed back into the pond, creating a severe pollution problem and environmental health hazard. Pierre Charles L'Enfant proposed cleaning the pond and making it a centerpiece of a recreational park, around which the residential areas of the city could grow. His proposal was rejected and it was decided to fill in the pond. This was done with fill partially obtained from leveling Bayards Mount and Kalck Hoek. The landfill was completed in 1811 and Middle class homes were soon built on the reclaimed land.

The landfill was poorly engineered. The buried vegetation began to release methane gas (a byproduct of decomposition) and the area, still in a natural depression, lacked adequate storm sewers. As a result, the ground gradually subsided. Houses shifted on their foundations, the unpaved streets were often buried in a foot of mud and mixed with human and animal excrement, and mosquitoes bred in the stagnant pools created by the poor drainage.

Proposals were made to solve the problem, including the conversion of the pond to a park designed by Pierre L’Enfant, and the creation of a canal between the East and Hudson Rivers. In the end, it was filled in from land removed from nearby Bayard's Mount, the highest hill in lower Manhattan, rechristened after the Revolution "Bunker Hill" (commemorating the American battle at Bunker Hill, Boston; a small battery had fortified Nicholas Bayard's Mount during the Revolution [6]) and leveled between 1803 and 1811. By 1813, the Collect was virtually gone.

Several decades later, New York City obtained a new, plentiful supply of fresh water from the Croton Aqueduct. The neighborhood known as "Five Points", a notorious slum, developed near the former eastern bank of the Collect and owed its existence in some measure to the poor landfill job (completed in 1811) which created swampy, mosquito-ridden conditions on land that had originally had more well-to-do residents.

Most middle and upper class inhabitants fled the area, leaving the neighborhood open to poor immigrants that began arriving in the early 1820s. This influx reached a height in the 1840s, with large numbers of Irish Catholics fleeing the Irish Potato Famine.

While the pond had been condemned, drained, and filled in by 1817, the landfill job was poorly done, and in a span of less than ten years, the ground began to sink. New York's jail, nicknamed "The Tombs", was built on Centre Street in 1838 on the site of the pond and was constructed on a huge platform of hemlock logs in an attempt to give it secure foundations. The prison building began to subside almost as soon as it was completed and was notorious for leaks in its lowest tier and for its general dampness. When the original Tombs building was condemned and demolished at the end of the century, builders sank enormous concrete caissons to bedrock, as much as 140 feet below street level, in order to give its replacement more secure foundations. This damp foundation was primarily responsible for its bad reputation as being unsanitary during the decades to come.

The design, by John Haviland, was based on an engraving of an ancient Egyptian mausoleum. The building was 253 feet 3 inches (77.19 m) in length by 200 feet 5 inches (61.09 m) wide and it occupied a full block, surrounded by Centre, Franklin, Elm (today's Lafayette), and Leonard Streets. It initially accommodated about 300 prisoners.

That structure was notorious for the damp conditions which resulted from being built on the landfill used to fill in the Collect Pond. The original building was replaced in 1902 with a new one on the same site connected by a "Bridge of Sighs" to the Criminal Courts Building on the Franklin Street side. That building was replaced in 1941 by one across the street on the east side of Centre Street with the entrance at 125 White Street, officially named the Manhattan House of Detention, though still referred to popularly as "The Tombs".

Connecticut inventor John Fitch was an instrument maker working in the later part of the 18th century. As an early pioneer of steam navigation, Fitch tested several steamboats on the Delaware River between 1785 and 1788. Fitch’s real success, however, occurred a few years later when, in 1796 he tested another ship equipped with a paddle wheel on New York’s Collect Pond. On the boat with him was fellow inventor Robert Fulton, Robert R. Livingston, who was the first Chancellor of New York and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and 16-year-old John Hutchings steering.

This was a full six years before Fulton and Livingston launched “Fulton’s Folly” on the Seine River in France. Hutchings claims to have been a “lad” at the time who “assisted Mr. Fitch in steering the boat”. In a broadside issued in 1846 Hutchings asserts that it was in fact Fitch who designed the steam propulsion mechanism. He claims that both Fulton and Livingston were present during the Collect Pond tests and in fact depicts both, as well as Fitch and himself, in a paddlewheel steam ship in the upper left quadrant of the broadside. Though Fulton seems to have received most of the credit for the era of steam navigation, Hutchings hoped, through the publication of this broadside, to shed some light on Fitch’s contributions as well.

In 1960, a portion of the site of the Collect was given to the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation for conversion into a park. Originally, the park was named "Civil Court Park" due to its proximity to the surrounding courthouse buildings. However, the park was renamed "Collect Pond Park", its current name, to represent its history more accurately. The park is located on the block bordered by Lafayette Street, Leonard Street, Centre Street, and White Street.

The park was closed for a total reconstruction. In 2012, reconstruction of the park uncovered the granite foundation of The Tombs, leading to a partial stop-work order pending archaeological investigation. The newly rebuilt park, reopened in May 2014, includes a pond evocative of the former Collect Pond.

The granite foundation of The Tombs uncovered during reconstruction of Collect Pond Park in early 2012 It is still possible to ascertain the rough boundaries of the Collect Pond and original topography in the elevations of the streets in the area, with the lowest elevation being Centre Street which runs in the approximate center of the former pond.

Thursday, June 11, 2015

#436 Amsterdam Avenue Overpass over I-95


Amsterdam Avenue Overpass over I-95
June 11, 2015, Rob Hickman, Keith Nelson

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

ride time: 1:43:18
distance: 5.54 miles
ride link

#435 Washington Bridge Approach Overpass over I-95 Approach


Washington Bridge Approach Overpass over I-95 Approach
June 11, 2015, Keith Nelson, Rob Hickman

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

#434 Washington Bridge over the Harlem River


Washington Bridge over the Harlem River
June 11, 2015, Keith Nelson, Rob Hickman

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

From Wikipedia:

The Washington Bridge carries six lanes of traffic, as well as sidewalks on both sides, over the Harlem River in New York City between the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx, connecting 181st Street and Amsterdam Avenue in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan to University Avenue in the Morris Heights neighborhood of the Bronx. Ramps at either end of the bridge connect to the Trans-Manhattan Expressway and the Cross-Bronx Expressway. The bridge is operated and maintained by the New York City Department of Transportation. It once carried U.S. Route 1, which now travels over the Alexander Hamilton Bridge.

The total length of the bridge, including approaches, is 2,375 feet (724 m). The parallel main spans of the steel arch bridge stretch 510 feet (160 m) over the Harlem River, providing 134 feet (41 m) of vertical clearance and 354 feet (108 m) of horizontal clearance. The tidal maximum (mean higher high water) is 4.9 ft (1.5 m) and extreme low water is -3.5 compared to mean lower low water.

This two-hinged arch bridge was designed by Charles C. Schneider and Wilhelm Hildenbrand, with modifications to the design made by the Union Bridge Company, William J. McAlpine, Theodore Cooper and DeLemos & Cordes, with Edward H. Kendall as consulting architect. The original design was pared down to bring the bridge's cost to $3 million. The bridge features steel-arch construction with two 510-foot-long (150m) main spans and masonry approaches. Construction began in 1886, and the bridge opened to pedestrian traffic on December 1, 1888. The plan had been to open the bridge to vehicular traffic on February 22, 1889 — Washington's Birthday and the centennial anniversary of the first Presidency — but the full opening was delayed until December 1889.

In 1913, a young architect named John Bruns is reported to have jumped from the Washington bridge and lived. He was quoted at his trial: "Why, Your Honor, it was a nerve test. Some friends had been taunting me on my lack of nerve because I had never married, and as we talked over the matter I made a bet that I would dive from the bridge."

After completion of the George Washington Bridge in 1931, traffic off the bridge into the Bronx traveled over the Washington Bridge. Starting in the 1940s, ramps were built to connect the western end of the bridge to the 178th Street and 179th Street Tunnels leading to the George Washington Bridge. This allowed traffic to and from New Jersey to bypass the congested local streets of Upper Manhattan.

The Alexander Hamilton Bridge was planned in the mid-1950s to provide a direct connection between Robert Moses's proposed Trans-Manhattan and Cross-Bronx Expressways and to accommodate the additional traffic resulting from the addition of the six-lane lower level to the George Washington Bridge. The completion of the Alexander Hamilton Bridge in 1963 diverted much of the traffic away from the Washington Bridge.

#433 Washington Bridge Approach Overpass over I-95


Washington Bridge Approach Overpass over I-95
June 11, 2015, Rob Hickman, Keith Nelson

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

#432 Undercliff Avenue Overpass over Major Deegan Expy I-87 Approach


Undercliff Avenue Overpass over Major Deegan Expy I-87 Approach
June 11, 2015, Rob Hickman, Keith Nelson

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

#431 Undercliff Avenue Overpass over I-95


Undercliff Avenue Overpass over I-95
June 11, 2015, Keith Nelson, Rob Hickman

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

#430 Boscobel Place Overpass over I-95 Approach


Boscobel Place Overpass over I-95 Approach
June 11, 2015, Keith Nelson, Rob Hickman

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

#429 Grand Concourse Overpass over East 174th Street


Grand Concourse Overpass over East 174th Street
June 11, 2015, Rob Hickman, Keith Nelson

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

#428 Walton Avenue Overpass over I-95


Walton Avenue Overpass over I-95
June 11, 2015, Rob Hickman, Keith Nelson

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

#427 Townsend Avenue Overpass over I-95 Approach


Townsend Avenue Overpass over I-95 Approach
June 11, 2015, Keith Nelson, Rob Hickman

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

#426 Jerome Avenue Overpass over I-95


Jerome Avenue Overpass over I-95
June 11, 2015, Brian Bignon, Keith Nelson, Rob Hickman

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

#425 Macombs Road Overpass over I-95


Macombs Road Overpass over I-95
June 11, 2015, Keith Nelson, Rob Hickman

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

#424 Jesup Avenue Overpass over I-95


Jesup Avenue Overpass over I-95
June 11, 2015, Keith Nelson, Rob Hickman

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

#423 Nelson Avenue Overpass over I-95


Nelson Avenue Overpass over I-95
June 11, 2015, Keith Nelson, Rob Hickman

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

#422 Edward Grant Highway Overpass over Major Deegan Expy I-87 approach


Edward Grant Highway Overpass over Major Deegan Expy I-87 approach
June 11, 2015, Keith Nelson, Rob Hickman

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

#421 Edward Grant Highway Overpass over I-95


Edward Grant Highway Overpass over I-95
June 11, 2015, Rob Hickman, Keith Nelson

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

#420 High Bridge



High Bridge over the Harlem River
June 11, 2015, Rob Hickman, Keith Nelson

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

From Wikipedia:

The High Bridge (originally the Aqueduct Bridge) is a steel arch bridge, with a height of almost 140 feet (40 m) over the Harlem River, connecting the New York City boroughs of the Bronx and Manhattan. The eastern end is located in the Bronx near the western end of West 170th Street, and the western end is located in Highbridge Park in Manhattan, roughly parallel to the end of West 174th Street.

Completed in 1848, it is now the oldest bridge in New York City—although the steel arch that actually spans the Harlem River dates from a 1928 renovation. The bridge was closed to all traffic from the 1970s until its restoration which began in 2009. The bridge was reopened to pedestrians and unicycles on June 9, 2015.

The bridge is operated and maintained by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

Originally designed as a stone arch bridge, the High Bridge had the appearance of a Roman aqueduct. Construction on the bridge was started in 1837, and completed in 1848 as part of the Croton Aqueduct, which carried water from the Croton River to supply the then burgeoning city of New York some 10 miles (16 km) to the south. It has a length of well over 2,000 feet (600 m). It was designed by the aqueduct's engineering team, led by John B. Jervis. James Renwick, Jr., who later went on to design New York's landmark Saint Patrick's Cathedral on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, participated in the design.

The Croton Aqueduct had to cross the Harlem River at some point, and the method was a major design decision. A tunnel under the river was considered, but tunneling technology was in its infancy at the time, and the uncertainty of pursuing this option led to its rejection. This left a bridge, with the Water Commission, engineers and the public split between a low bridge and a high bridge. A low bridge would have been simpler, faster, and cheaper to construct. When concerns were raised to the New York Legislature that a low bridge would obstruct passage along the Harlem River to the Hudson River, a high bridge was ultimately chosen.

In 1928, in order to improve navigation in the Harlem River, the five masonry arches that spanned the river were demolished and replaced with a single steel arch of about 450 feet (140 m). Of the masonry arches of the original 1848 bridge, only one survives on the Manhattan side, while some ten survive on the Bronx side.

Use of the structure for water supply purposes ceased on December 15, 1949.

By 1954, The New York Times reported that the commissioner of the Department of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity said that "the bridge entailed serious problems of maintenance and vandalism." Robert Moses agreed to take responsibility for the bridge, which was transferred to the Parks Department in 1955. There were incidents, in 1957 and 1958, of pedestrians throwing sticks, stones, and bricks from the bridge, seriously injuring passengers on Circle Line tour boats which passed under the bridge. Concerns due to these incidents supposedly contributed to the bridge being closed as early as 1960, although other sources claim it was not closed until the early 1970s, when high crime and fiscal crisis lead to the contraction of many city services and public spaces.

The High Bridge was part of the first reliable and plentiful water supply system in New York City. As the City was devastated by cholera (1832) and the Great Fire in 1835, the inadequacy of the water system of wells-and-cisterns became apparent. Numerous corrective measures were examined. In the final analysis only the Croton River, located in northern Westchester County was found to be sufficient in quantity and quality to serve the needs of the City. The delivery system was begun in 1837, and was completed in 1848.

The Old Croton Aqueduct was the first of its kind ever constructed in the United States. The innovative system used a classic gravity feed, dropping 13 inches (330 mm) per mile and running 41 miles (66 km) into New York City through an enclosed masonry structure crossing ridges, valleys, and rivers. University Avenue was later built over the southernmost mainland portion of the aqueduct, leading to the bridge. The High Bridge soars 138 feet (42 m) above the 620-foot (190 m)-wide Harlem River, with a total length of 1,450 feet (440 m). The bridge was designed with a pedestrian walkway atop the Aqueduct and was not used for vehicular traffic. Though the carrying capacity was enlarged in 1861-62 with a larger tube, the bridge, obsolete due to opening of the New Croton Aqueduct, ceased to carry water in 1917. In the 1920s the bridge's masonry arches were declared a hazard to ship navigation by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, and the City considered demolishing the entire structure. Local organizations called to preserve the historic bridge, and in 1927 five of the original arches across the river were replaced by a single steel span, the remaining arches were retained.

In November 2006 the Department of Parks and Recreation announced that the bridge would reopen to pedestrians in 2009. This date was repeatedly put off. A $20 million renovation project would include strengthening the arch, improving staircases, cameras on both ends of the bridge, and boat beacon lights among other features.

In 2009 preliminary planning, funded by plaNYC, began for restoring the High Bridge. The High Bridge Coalition raised funds and public awareness to restore High Bridge to pedestrian and bicycle traffic, joining the Highbridge Parks in both Manhattan and the Bronx that together cover more than 120 acres (0.49 km2) of parkland, and providing a link in New York's greenway system. In early 2010 a contract was signed with Lichtenstein Consulting Engineers and Chu & Gassman Consulting Engineers (MEP sub-consultant) to provide designs for the restored bridge.

On January 11, 2013, the mayor's office announced the bridge would reopen for pedestrian traffic by 2014, but in August 2014, the open was postponed to spring of 2015. In May 2015, the Parks Department announced a July opening and a July 25 festival. The ribbon was cut for the restored bridge at about 11:30am, June 9, 2015, with the bridge open to the general public at noon.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

#419 Bedford Park Blvd. West Overpass over the Jerome Avenue Train Yard


Bedford Park Blvd. West Overpass over the Jerome Avenue Train Yard
May 20, 2015, Sophie Lrits, Keith Nelson, Rob Hickman

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

ride time: 4:21:09
distance: 14.51 miles
ride link

#418 Bridgeway entrance to Lehman College Art Gallery


Bridgeway entrance to Lehman College Art Gallery
May 20, 2015, Sophie Lrits, Rob Hickman, Keith Nelson

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

#417 Cross Campus Bridgeway at Lehman College


Cross Campus Bridgeway at Lehman College
May 20, 2015, Sophie Lrits, Rob Hickman, Keith Nelson

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

#416 Entryway Bridge at Bronx High School of Science


Entryway Bridge at Bronx High School of Science
May 20, 2015, Sophie Lrits, Rob Hickman, Keith Nelson View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

#415 Van Cortlandt Park South Overpass over Major Deegan Expy I-87


Van Cortlandt Park South Overpass over Major Deegan Expy I-87
May 20, 2015, Keith Nelson, Sophie Lrits, Rob Hickman

#414 Van Cortlandt Park South Overpass over Putnam Trail (former New York and Putnam Railroad line)


Van Cortlandt Park South Overpass over Putnam Trail (former New York and Putnam Railroad line)
May 20, 2015, Keith Nelson, Rob Hickman, Sophie Lrits

#413 Putnam Trail overpass (former New York and Putnam Railroad line)


Putnam Trail overpass (former New York and Putnam Railroad line)
May 20, 2015, Keith Nelson, Rob Hickman, Sophie Lrits

#412 John Kieran Nature Trail Bridge #3, Van Cortlandt Park


John Kieran Nature Trail Bridge #3, Van Cortlandt Park
May 20, 2015, Sophie Lrits, Rob Hickman, Keith Nelson

#411 Van Cortlandt Golf Course Trail Bridge


Van Cortlandt Golf Course Trail Bridge
May 20, 2015, Keith Nelson, Rob Hickman, Sophie Lrits

#410 Van Cortlandt Golf Course Trail Bridge (former New York and Putnam Railroad line)


Van Cortlandt Golf Course Trail Bridge (former New York and Putnam Railroad line)
May 20, 2015, Keith Nelson, Rob Hickman, Sophie Lrits

View on Unicycle NYC Bridge Tour Map at: unibridgetour.net

From Wikipedia:

The New York and Putnam Railroad (a.k.a. Old Put) was a railroad line that operated between The Bronx and Brewster, New York. It was in close proximity to Hudson River Railroad and New York & Harlem Railroad. All three came under ownership of the New York Central system in 1894. Abandonment began in 1958; most of the former roadbed has been converted for rail trail use.

The New York & Boston Railroad (NY&B) was chartered May 21, 1869 to build a line from High Bridge on the Harlem River in New York northeast to Brewster. At Brewster connections were to be provided to the New York & Harlem Railroad for travel north to Albany, and to the Boston, Hartford & Erie Railroad to Boston.

New York Central's Putnam Division, Getty Square branch Southbound (Eastbound) electric schedules from Employee Timetable No. 55 effective 1942-06-07 showing service operated few years before abandonment.

The New York, Boston & Northern Railway (NYB&N) was formed on November 18, 1872 as a consolidation of the NY&B with two companies to the north — the Putnam & Dutchess Railroad (P&D) and Dutchess & Columbia Railroad (D&C). The P&D was a plan for a line to split from the New York and Boston at Carmel to a point midway along the D&C. The D&C opened in 1871, running from the Hudson River to the Connecticut border. The Clove Branch Railroad was to serve as a short connection between the two parts of the planned line.

The New York, Boston & Montreal Railway was organized January 21, 1873 as a renaming of the NYB&N. It continued north to Chatham and then use the Harlem Extension Railroad into Vermont. The Panic of 1873 caused the cancellation of the leases and mergers on December 1 of that year. Construction on the P&D and D&C stopped; D&C later became part of the Central New England Railway, the Harlem Extension became a part of the Rutland Railroad, and the Clove Branch Railroad was abandoned in 1898.

The New York, Westchester & Putnam Railway was formed on July 3, 1877 as a reorganization, and was leased to the New York City & Northern Railroad (NYC&N), formed on March 1, 1878. Between East View and Pocantico Hills, the NYC&N built a segment leading to a perilous 80 foot high trestle over a marsh-filled valley. Because of the dangers of crossing the bridge, which often required that trains slow down to a crawl, the line was rerouted west around that valley in 1881. The bridge was torn down in 1883, and the valley became the Tarrytown Reservoir. The line finally opened under the original plan, ending at Brewster, in April 1881. That year, the New York & New England Railroad opened to the north, using some of the grade built for the P&D and D&C. The West Side & Yonkers Railway was leased to the NYC&N on May 1, 1880, extending the line south across the Harlem River to the northern terminal of the Ninth Avenue Elevated at 155th Street. It was merged into the NYC&N by 1887. In the 1910s, the Interborough Rapid Transit Company of the New York City subway (IRT) purchased that section its elevated lines north into the Bronx, cutting the NYP back to Sedgwick Avenue. The Yonkers Rapid Transit Railway was opened in 1888 as a branch from the NYP at Van Cortlandt northwest to Yonkers. It was merged into NYP by 1887.

The company went into receivership by 1887 and was reorganized as the New York & Northern Railway. By 1894 it was reorganized as the New York & Putnam Railroad (NY&P) by J. P. Morgan who in turned leased the railroad to the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad (NYC&HR). The line eventually became the Putnam Division of the New York Central Railroad (NYC) by 1913. The line lacked a direct connection to NYC's flagship station, Grand Central Terminal (GCT), which hurt ridership throughout its existence. Passengers were forced to transfer at High Bridge to reach GCT. The Sedgwick Avenue-Van Cortlandt section and the Yonkers Branch were electrified in 1926.

Several short branches were eliminated after the 1920s. The Mohansic Branch near Yorktown Heights, originally built to serve a mental institution that was cancelled by Albany, went first. In 1929, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. had the tracks removed from his Pocantico Hills property, eliminating four stations and creating a single one. The nearby village of East View was obliterated to build the new line. The Getty Square branch was abandoned on June 30, 1943. Despite a legal battle by Yonkers residents which reached the United States Supreme Court to save it, the line was scrapped in December 1944.

The first diesel locomotive passenger train in the U.S. ran on the Putnam on March 18, 1929.

Besides the regular Sedgwick Avenue–Brewster service, service also operated from Golden's Bridge on the Harlem Division via a connecting branch to Lake Mahopac, and then over the Putnam Division to Brewster, where it returned to the Harlem Division. Trains taking this route were said to go "around the horn".

NYC saw the Putnam Division as a dispensable stepchild. The line lacked a second track, electrification, commuter parking and direct service to GCT, all of which the parallel Harlem and Hudson divisions had, resulting in steady patronage. NYC ended passenger service on the Putnam on May 29, 1958. Service "around the horn" via the Harlem Division's Lake Mahopac Branch continued until April 2, 1959. Until 1962, when NYC's West Shore Railroad was upgraded, the Putnam served oversize freight trains, due to the lack of tunnels on the line. Tracks between East View and Lake Mahopac were removed in 1962.

NYC merged with long-time rival Pennsylvania Railroad to form the Penn Central (PC) in 1968. Freight service on the northern part of the Putnam ended by 1970. The southern end of the line remained in service until the closing of the A&P warehouse in Elmsford in 1975. The decrease in traffic from Stauffer Chemical cut back the line to Chauncey by 1977. Conrail took over the bankrupt PC in April 1976, but had no plans for increasing business. Aside from occasional movements to Chauncey, the only customer was the Stella D'Oro bakery in the Bronx.

Metro-North currently uses the remaining stub at Marble Hill ("BN") for storage of maintenance of way and contractor's trains. The roadbed north of the former Van Cortlandt station has been converted into the South County Trailway, North County Trailway, and Putnam County Trailway rail trails.

A replica of the former Bryn Mawr Park station at the former Palmer Road grade crossing is in use as a grocery. The station in Briarcliff Manor was purchased by the village in 1959 and converted into a the Briarcliff Manor Public Library. The station in Elmsford serves as a restaurant. The Yorktown Heights station had its exterior restored and is the centerpiece of the town park. The station in Lake Mahopac has been an American Legion Hall since 1965. The freight house in Baldwin Place and the station in Tilly Foster are on private property.

The Getty Square Branch still shows evidence of its existence, with vestiges of the railroad and stations, and neighborhoods exhibiting characteristics of transit-oriented development. Getty Square station, originally a head house and train shed, was replaced by an office building, which still stands and is ornamented on its exterior and in its lobby with images of locomotives. The bridge in Van Cortlandt Park that carried the branch over the Henry Hudson Parkway is now a multi-use park path.

Abutments of the former branch can be found at School Street across from Herriott Street, McLean Avenue near South Broadway, and the former Lowerre Station on Lawrence Street at Western Avenue. The former Caryl Station on Caryl Avenue between Saratoga and Van Cortlandt Park Avenues, with the tunnel into Van Cortlandt Park walled off by cinder blocks is now the Caryl parking lot and playground.

Private homes that once served the branch include the termini houses of the Park Hill station's adjacent Incline railway (funicular) on Undercliff at Park Hill Terrace, and on Alta Avenue north of Overcliff, and the home of the railroad's president also on Alta Avenue.

#409 Small Wooden Bridge off Old Putnam Trail, Van Cortlandt Park


Small Wooden Bridge off Old Putnam Trail, Van Cortlandt Park
May 20, 2015, Rob Hickman, Keith Nelson, Sophie Lrits

#408 John Kieran Nature Trail Bridge #2 over Van Cortland Lake, Van Cortlandt Park


John Kieran Nature Trail Bridge #2 over Van Cortland Lake, Van Cortlandt Park
May 20, 2015, Keith Nelson, Sophie Lrits, Rob Hickman

#407 John Kieran Nature Trail Bridge over Van Cortland Lake, Van Cortlandt Park


John Kieran Nature Trail Bridge over Van Cortland Lake, Van Cortlandt Park
May 20, 2015, Rob Hickman, Sophie Lrits, Keith Nelson


From Scouting New York:
These thirteen slabs are stone samples, from which the primary building material for Grand Central was chosen. The samples were brought to New York City to test how they withstood the elements, though ultimately cost proved to be the deciding factor. Indiana limestone, the second sample in from the south, was chosen because it was the cheapest to transport.