Why New York Lifted the Bayonne Bridge
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- Опубликовано: 5 янв 2024
- Discover the engineering marvel behind the unprecedented transformation of the Bayonne Bridge! Join us to uncover the strategic reasons why New York elevated this iconic structure by 64 feet, revolutionizing its role in global trade and transportation. Explore the innovative motives and impact of this historic lift in our concise video explanation.
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IT’S HISTORY - Weekly Tales of American Urban Decay as presented by your host Ryan Socash.
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Editor - Karolina Szwata
Host - Ryan Socash
Music/Sound Design: Dave Daddario
Additional images by Max Touhey
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Some images may be used for illustrative purposes only - always reflecting the accurate time frame and content. Events of factual error / mispronounced word/spelling mistakes - retractions will be published in this section.
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As a Jersey City NJ born native, we pronounce Bayonne as Bay-Own not Bay-on.
As a Newark native that’s correct ^
It is proper Bayonneese to say “Bay-own,” but way more fun to say “Bay-own-ee”
Born in Paterson. Agree Bay-Own!
@@llaves973Staten Islander too says this is correct.
I came here to say this as well :)
And as a Bayonne, New Jersey resident, I'm going to tell you it's a New Jersey bridge, not a New York bridge. New York does not name its bridges after New Jersey cities.
you got dat right
Oh my god no one cares
@@wwemario12345 No one really cares if you care.
@@christineharris2302 No one cares if you care whether he cares
@@B3Band You probably should get a life instead of engaging in ridiculous conversations.
I moved to Bayonne in 00, worked on blasting and dredging the rock fault line in the kills to deepen the depth for post Panamax shipping. Mid 00’s when the decision was s made to raise the bridge I worked bringing barges and equipment to the bridge for the work to commence. I’ve walked over that bridge both pre raise and post but I have passed under it many more times then going over in the last 24 years
The initial design of the Bayonne Bridge was innovative but to me the raised deck project is very much underestimated for its own engineering innovation and success. That the original design allowed the new raised deck to be done over 70 years later was never envisioned by the original engineer but that was able to be done shows their genius and 'overengineering' worked. The 'inner' harbor that was accessed via under the Bayonne Bridge was originally to assure access for the waterfront in Jersey City, Bayonne, Elizabeth and Newark that grew greatly with containerized sea shipping from the 1960's.
Probably looked ridiculous when made, good thing they built the arch like that.
@@42luke93if it looked ridiculous after first being built why was it awarded the best looking bridge award?!?
@@at_3831
Meaning how the structure is so tall but the bridge is low it looked nicer that way
The same enigineer designed the GW Bridge as well and 30 years later a lower deck was added. It seems like he used to "over enigineer" his bridges for future generations. (Although it was a generation later, he was also the engineer for adding the lower deck.)
I believe the GW was intentionally designed in anticipation of adding a lower deck. @@allenkatz5652
The Holland Tunnel does not allow direct access to Manhattan from Staten Island----it's necessary to drive through New Jersey first. The video's use of the term "direct access" implies that Staten Islanders could drive direct to Manhattan, and that's not the case. I believe SIers get a toll discount for using the Verezzanno Bridge, but I don't know if there is a similar discount for using the NJ tunnels or the GWB into Manhattan.
Yeah, I replayed the video 3 times at the part where he says the Bayonne Bridge was created to give people living in lower Manhattan easy access to Staten Island. What? The Bayonne Bridge does not connect to Manhattan.
How cool is it that Eugenius Harvey Outerbridge actually had a bridge named after him.
Never new this by the way. re: Outerbridge was his last name. Destiny.
Legend has it that it was named the Outerbridge Crossing to avoid the redundancy of naming it the Outerbridge Bridge.
@@secant9046 If they had kept the original deck in place, the newer and higher deck could have been called the Outer Outerbridge Bridge 😆
@@Josh-yr7gd 😄
😆@@secant9046
So Vanderbilt, who was of Dutch descent, started a ferry to an island named after the Dutch parliament. It's still the name of the bicameral Dutch parliament today: "Staten-Generaal".
For us Dutch is funny to see how many names in NYC are of Dutch origin.
As a Staten Islander from youth, the naming process went like this: a sailing ship had gone through the Kill Van Kull waterway and the ship's Captain was looking towards an island and asked, "is Dat an Island", which became Stat an Island.
you mean in Nieu Amsterdam?
@@johnstreet797 That's the one. If history had gone a bit different, the Decleration of Independence would have started with "De unanieme Verklaaring der dertien vereenigde Staten van America". 🙂
what is so funny about a colonized european land having european names?
Thank you for showing the history of NYC's Bayonne Bridge.
A similar situation exists with the Sydney Harbour Bridge. In this case, it isn't bigger cargo ships which are a problem, as these have now been diverted to Port Botany, near the Sydney International Airport. It is the larger new generation cruise ships which are too tall to fit under the bridge. There is only one cruise berth available for the larger ships on the seaward side of the bridge. It wouldn't be feasible to raise the deck of the Sydney Harbour Bridge as it also carries two railway tracks which are already at maximum practical grade when they leave the tunnels on the city side approaches.
I remember studying this bridge in my bridges class in grad school engineering. It is a beautiful structure!
It was, it's ugly now
As someone who's driven over that bridge countless times and hated it... Glad to hear someone else has a different perspective on it
are you an engineer?
I hired a guy who worked on this as the CWI for all Welding. Stories he told me would shake you to the core! Errors, Slips, etc!
"New York" did not raise the bridge height in the recent project. The "Port Authority of New York and New Jersey" owns the bridge, performed the lift project, and is a bi-state agency with equal shares of the States of New York and New Jersey.
Actually the turnpike authority owns the bridge
@@brandonwestcott8892 Nope. Perhaps you are thinking of the nearby and superficially similar bridge that carries the Newark Bay Extension of the NJ Turnpike between Newark and Bayonne & Jersey City.
So New York lifted it, who does the PA work for, for the PEOPLE of the States of NY and NJ, stop pretending like government agencies don’t work for the people.
The port authority owns the bridge… I live on the island .
An amazing project while it was underway. I worked in south Brooklyn and a couple colleagues relied on the Bayonne Bridge to get to Staten Island, then onward over another bridge to Brooklyn, something they could continue to do throughout the construction. They just couldn't work late because the bridge would close for work each night.
New York didn't lift jack squat the port authority did
10:20. It’s is certainly a lighter structure than the Sydney Harbour Bridge, but the SHB was designed to carry 6 lanes of vehicles and 4 heavy railway tracks. The two bridges had very different loadings.
Go Figure. The most Outer of the bridges in the New York City area is really named for a person called Outerbridge
I've lived in NJ all my life and I was in my 30s before I learned that the Outerbridge wasn't just the outermost bridge but a bridge named for a man named Outerbridge. TBH, I probably heard that sooner, but thought it was a joke because... c'mon... OUTERBRIDGE??
aint' dat a kick inna head
My 8th grade English teacher taught us this. I went to to school in the Bronx.
I’m 29 and a lifelong resident of Brooklyn/NJ. It was only upon watching this video that I learned that. Lmao
I know it still cracks me up. I think I was 50 when I learned the source of its name (and born in SI) but I guess it’s also a situation where your name dictates your future lol.
The port authority lifted this bridge, not NYC.
*I* lifted the bridge.
@@raydenbartley this is true i was the bridge
My dad was living in bayonne I would spend the weeknd with him in those in bayonne he lived there ever since August 8 2019 and he moved to bloomfield I miss the house in bayonne
A megaproject that was underbudget AND completed early and wasn't a disaster? Makes you wonder why we cant do them now XD
Raising the road deck was a great idea. Ryan, thanks for your time, work and posting.
Been on this bridge many times since it's the shortcut between interstate 78 and 278 the Staten Island Expressway towards JFK Airport. If you take this bridge from Allentown in Easton Pennsylvania area to JFK Airport you cut off 3 miles from 93 miles via Bedminster 287 to 90 miles via 78 and Bayonne Bridge 440. There is a bus route that uses this bridge the S89
Yes the S89 is the only New York City bus to have a stop in a different state. I wish this bus was utilized more as it only runs rush hours and does not stop at the Bayonne Crossing plaza
Another great presentation. Thanks.
That's good work Brother. Thanks from Philadelphia
This bridge never has traffic. Also they need to extend the Hudson rail over to staten
Why?
Great presentation!! I learned a lot. 👍🏾
I’ve watched dozens of your history documentaries and loved everyone. Thank you.
Man they need extend the Hudson Bergen Light Rail over to Staten Island and connect to SIR, it’s literally so close to get extended and run on Richmond Ave to Eltingville
That would be cool but I doubt if they miraculously approve it it will be completed in our lifetime
Why?
The Hudson Bergen Light Rail has potential at each end. During construction Bergen & Orange counties wanted it extended up there. The trolley cars (made in Canada??) came by rail and were put on the tracks on the west side of Bergen hill (the last stop).
That bridge is as New York as the Jets & Giants.
Excellent video and research. I'm from Hudson County, where Bayonne is located.
Thanks for the info!
Good video!
The Port Authority was originally called "The Port of New York Authority" and was created in 1921 to regulate freight rates in the Port following WWI. It was the first interstate authority and was approved by the US congress. It was and is controlled by the governors of New York and New Jersey and not by the Mayors of the municipalities where the facilities are located. It evolved to include interstate crossings when the private and municipal governments did not have the budgets to build and maintain these crossings. Later, local airports were also added to the Port Authority for the same reasons. It got into the real estate business because the governor of NY, Nelson Rockefeller's brother Alan wanted to build a world trade center near his Chase Manhattan Bank. The governor of NJ approved the construction if the Port Authority would take ownership of the bankrupt Hudson tubes commuter rail system. Thus, the Port Authority Trans Hudson Railroad {PATH} was created in 1962.
Not Alan Rockefeller, David Rockefeller.
Useful take. In the transport fraternity it has respect worldwide. (It also took a ton of my money in tolls!)
Question: Why New York Lifted the Bayonne Bridge?
Answer: Easy. So, larger ships could easily pass underneath it!
No brainer!!
😂
As a country person my neighbors don't understand role that NYC plays in our ecomeny and bridge problem are not their problems. When I started driving long haul I hauled goods form westen pa to NYC and produce form California to hunts point and long Island. There are nine western state where fewer people live then Manhatten ny
at the end of the day we’re one country and every part of it is important for one reason or another. It’s sad that politics often seek to distract us from that truth. We’re actually all on the same team (for the most part).
So... what do you think of the Cross Bronx?! Hunts Point is the veggies market, when it was in SE Manhattan it was mob controlled.
Awesome ❤😊
You know Brooklyn had a ferry to Staten Island too, right? The orange boat wasn’t the “only” one.
And the bridge just kept setting records after it was opened.... Every year. More and more people.... They came from near and far to jump. 😮
The Holland Tunnel does not connect Staten Island to Manhattan.
I found your map of Native Indian populations in the NY/NJ was fascinating to a former NY'er. They never taught us NY'er in school about the Indian tribes around us.... History class would have been a lot more interesting!
Othmar Amman designed six bridges in NYC and the surrounding area. They are the Bayonne Bridge, the George Washington Bridge, the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, the Whitestone Bridge, the Throgs Neck Bridge and (at least) the suspension span of the Robert F Kennedy Bridge (formerly the Triborough Bridge). All are beautiful structures.
Everyone still calls it the Triborough
@@TheMrPeteChannel Haha! And everybody still calls it the Tappan Zee.
You forgot to mention ships in 1991 and 2003 scraped the bottom of the bridge damaging it.
Question... Why haven't you covered the Mackinaw Bridge??? I know, it's one of the forgotten ones, but when it opened in November,1957, it was the longest bridge in the world, and even though it's lost the title of the overall longest, if you measure it from one cable anchorage to the other, (suspension part only) it's still one of the longest. And if you're a Chicago native, it's almost in your backyard.
That bridge was destroyed in the War of the Worlds movie
Why the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey lifted the Bayonne(NJ) bridge
Exactly!
To get to the other side.
It was blocking big ships.
I was born in Jersey City but we moved to bayowhen. I was in my teens. I lived there for 40 years. My family has been in that town since the eighteen hundreds had absolutely no idea about this.
wtf is bayowhen?
'New York' did not do this project New Jersey and New York did it.
Lived in Lyndhurst,NJ years ago and I remember tug boats and oil barges going up the Passaic River as far as Wallington. There is a dam across the river at Lodi,NJ
The reason Staten Island is part of New York is because of a bargain the colonies of New York and New Jersey struck many years ago. New Jersey agreed to cede any islands in the Hudson River----even those as close to the New Jersey shore as Staten Island is----to New York as long as New Jersey had the right to navigate the Hudson River and build ports on their shores. The only island in the Hudson River that New Jersey has any claim to is part of Ellis Island because New York dredged land from New Jersey waters to expand it. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the extra land belonged to New Jersey.
Four years, two million dollars review is fast? Wow, I’m dumbfounded.
If im not mistaken the beyonne bridge has a pedestrian walk way just like the east river bridges and the george washington br. Ive never walked the beyonne maybe one day but ive walked on all of the east river bridges as well as the GWB ive also read that there were plans to build a walk way on the verrizanno bridge ive been on that bridge while riding in a car and i have to say that the brooklyn bound side has the best view if they do build a walk way i hope that they build it on the brooklyn bound side the new jersey bound side of the GWB also have the most breathtaking view im not sure why that side of the bridge isnt open for pedestrians the view is breathtaking the new york bound side is ok but its not like the new jersey bound side i hope that one day i can take a picture of it via my phone ditto the the brooklyn bound side of the verrizanno narrows bridge fingers cross
The Staten Island Ferry in New York is like Star Ferry here in Hong Kong.
Comparing this to the Øresund Bridge: that has a clearing of "only" 57 metres, or 187 feet. Although it ought to be mentioned that there is a tunnel segment as well, so ships could sail there. That crossing, between Denmark and Sweden, was built over a waterway that is the only access to the open ocean for Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and Saint-Petersburg (Russia).
Army Corp of engineers dredged out the kill van kull to 50 ft. Now it's at 75-100 ft. Every couple years it gets dredged out becuz it's a settement of the Hudson
"settlement of the Hudson" I think the silt is mainly from the Hackensack and Passaic rivers?
@peterquennellnyc yeah u can say that as well.
@@MrTopgunna718 Tks. Not picking sides here! My view is the Hudson and I am sure it brings down a ton of stuff. But I know how pesky the Hackensack and especially Passaic River are and they exit into the kull. There is/was a proposal for a 20-mile flood tunnel under the Passaic from Wayne with pumps to speed the water along.
Ummm Sydney harbor bridge isn’t designed with inspiration of the Bayonne bridge, that’s the hells gate bridge in Astoria….
Glad they put the new walkway facing the city.
Been across Bayonne bridge since the deck has been raise up to accommodate taller ships mainly container ships the approach to is a very steep incline.
Apparently there were problems originally after the new higher-incline bridge opened with trucks having issues with the climb. But that's the problem when you can't move either end of the bridge but have to raise it.
Went over it in December 23. That sucker is high! I wished we could stop and take a look.
@@jackshel "I wished we could stop and take a look." Agreed. You can walk it of course.
17:43 ,actually the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey actually paid for nearby residents to get new windows & doors to alivate the nightly noise concerns
First point, it was the Port Authority of NY & NJ that lifted the bridge. 2nd they raised it because they couldn't lower the river.
This was a joint project between New Jersey and New York. Why only mention New York?
Because this historian seems to know very little about the history of this particular topic.
The entire comments section is corrections.
Raising the bridge is excellent engineering, but the bridge's aesthetics have suffered. There is a symmetry of scale in the original bridge design that is lost in the upgrade. The roadway in the original design is about halfway up the arch, while the upgrade has it 2/3 of the way up.
Yes, it looks topheavy now!
Agreed. Weird. It looks a bit precarious.
The guy's *name* was "Outerbridge"?! As J. Jonah Jameson once said, "what are the odds?"
Yea!!! More Staten Island content!!!
You should have mentioned that 2 SNL folks bought one of the Staten Island Ferry boats.
Why?
@@B3Band The ferry got mentioned. Just a little fact for the story.
Because the King of Bayonne demanded it
Perth Amboy my home town
You missed the fact that the Sydney bridge was opened by an Irish man on a horse with a sword declaring that it was for the people
Been under that bridge a couple of times.
Steel Erected by Ironworkers Local 11 North Jersey & Ironworkers Local 40 NYC = Setting steel for America’s future projects /BRIDGE , STRUCTURAL UNION IRONWORKERS (Building America)
Unfortunately I think someone took a leap off of this structure today... Coincidentally enough😢
Cool.
At timestamp 16:34 the narration says that the bridge was raised by 215 feet, which would make the new height about 365 feet. I think what was meant to be said instead is that the bridge was raised to 215 feet.
Narrator says "They raised the bridge's roadway by 215 feet", it should be "They raised the bridge's roadway to 215 feet". That is quite a difference.
Memento is an item kept to memorialize an occasion or event. Momento is a small segment of time in certain Latin derived languages. The former is tangible the latter is not.
Going to and from Staten Island is still a massive hassle
And expensive
And pointless
The Sydney Harbor Bridge may weigh more, but it carries many more lanes of traffic, pedestrian and cyclist paths, and metro trains.
Yeah but the Sydney harbor bridge isn't in Bayonne
Sydney bridge was designed to have 4 main line railway lines built on it hence its weight probably.
Question: In the original design, where were the tracks supposed to run? Between the road lanes On a separate deck? On the outside? Very curious about that and why it was never implemented... Even when Hudson-Bergen Light Rail was built oh-so close to Staten Island...
The old deck had space on either side of the roadway to accommodate tracks that were never installed. If you walked across the bridge there was about a 12-foot gap between the pedestrian walkway and the roadway.
1:08-Even the Lenape Indians used boats….! It was too far to swim.
The SHB is still one of the widest bridges.
"The port could lose business to Savannah and Charleston." Nothing is further from the truth; those ports actually *lobbied* to have the bridge raised. Vessels run the eastern seaboard on a schedule and will visit all three ports; it's commercially not attractive to skip one.
Charleston and Savannah had invested and could handle much larger ships but that capacity was not used because Elizabeth was the bottleneck. Hence they had interest in it as well. Surely it's good for business, but not to better compete with the ports of the south, but rather cooperate to land more business.
Silly me! I grew up in the area, and I always thought the Outerbridge Crossing was called that because it was the outermost bridge across the Hudson!! Live and learn...
The Hudson? It bridges the Arthur Kill, not the Hudson, which is a good 15 miles northeast.
@@edwardp3502 Oops, I guess I just sort of merged them together in my mind. Again, silly me.
@@muzvid No apologies needed, it’s a relatively common mistake. Staten Island has a fascinating history that many NY-NJ folks are unaware of. Enjoy these videos!
They made some parts so steep that cars get stuck going up the bridge in snow storms
Bayonne native here. The Bayonne Bridge is in Bayonne, New Jersey. Not New York. It’s literally New Jersey lol.
The uranium for the Manhattan Project was transported and stored there during the development of the Little Boy & Fat Man bombs. It is not legend and was not 'dumped' there as it was utilized in the 2 weapons. The area depicted in the photograph was previously a privately owned automotive salvage facility. The uranium storage area was directly under the bridge on Staten Island and has been a secured area since WWII due to higher than normal radiation levels.
It is an absolute must that narrators correctly pronounce the name of the things they're talking about. This one did not. It's obvious they did not do their proper research.
And the navy used to test weapons there so they probably dumped plenty of Manhattan project waste there too. Plus it’s closer to Columbia University.
Calling this a new York Bridge calls into question everything you have ever done
well if thay had do it one time road deck go over the arch as double deck bridge
Reasons for raising the bridge start around 15:00
my high school symbol
The real question is, why did the colony of New York get such a big portion of the mainland? That part should be Connecticut. That part should be Massachusetts. And that should be New Hampshire (which should include Vermont).
new york was economic venture it got the hudson basin
Are you a staten islander?
As a kid in the 60s, we'd take the turnpike to visit my aunt and uncle in Bayonne. It was a trip of about 35 miles which seemed like an eternity to my brother and I,so when we'd see the turnpike bridge over Newark bay, we'd know we were almost to our Bayonne exit. We always thought and called that bridge the Bayonne bridge!😅
20:14 that picture is *so* new york, it's silly!
Chris Christie was the Governor of *New Jersey* at the time the photo was taken. Read the seal on the podium.
War Of The Worlds bridge
It is STILL a hassle to get to Staten Island.
It's not a "New York" or "New York City" bridge. It is owned, operated, & maintained by the Port Authority of NY & NJ - a bistate agency which operates numerous transportation and cargo facilities in and around the great natural harbor which the two states share. Among those - the container shipping port (Port Newark/Elizabeth), four rapid-transit rail routes, three major airports, three bridges between NJ & Staten Island, NY, and one bridge & two tunnels crossing the Hudson River between NJ & Manhattan.
So the bridge in today’s dollars is $220 million but a new bridge would cost billions. Go figure that new math?
This is the second video of yours I've watched. Both about New York City. And in both videos, you say "Verrazzanos" instead of Verrazzano.
You're the historian, so I guess you can tell me why it's Verrazzanos when everyone else drops the S?
As far as I know the guy it's named after was Italian, and Italians rarely have last names that end with S.
It’s a New York thing, adding the “S” where none is needed. Like “Honey, I’m going to K-Marts” LOL.
hey i live under that bridge lmao
The bridge to no where… it’s nickname
One has to assess the real costs for civil engineering projects in the New York area. If the Bayonne bridge would cost $273 million today accounting for inflation, why does building a new bridge of the same size cost $2.7 billion ? I can understand some increase due to the cost of labor, but 10 times as much accounting for inflation seems fishy.
It isn't being built today. You can say that attempting to build a new bridge in the same area would cost billions. But you can't say that the price paid for the bridge back then is anything other than the actual price that was paid (which you can then adjust for inflation, regardless of what the actual cost might be today).
If you adjust home prices in 1950 for inflation, those prices will still be less than what those same houses sell for today.