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, and the Bronx. The viaducts cross Randalls and Wards Islands, previously two islands and now joined by landfill.
The RFK Bridge, a toll bridge, carries Interstate 278 (I-278) as well as the unsigned highway New York State Route 900G. It connects with the FDR Drive and the Harlem River Drive in Manhattan, the Bruckner Expressway (I-278) and the Major Deegan Expressway (Interstate 87) in the Bronx, and the Grand Central Parkway (I-278) and Astoria Boulevard in Queens.
The three primary bridges of the RFK Bridge complex are:
The vertical-lift bridge over Harlem River, the largest in the world, connecting Manhattan to Randalls Island
The truss bridge over Bronx Kill, connecting Randalls Island to the Bronx
The suspension bridge over Hell Gate (a strait of the East River), connecting Wards Island to Astoria in QueensThese three bridges are connected by an elevated highway viaduct across Randalls and Wards Islands and 14 miles (23 km) of support roads. The viaduct includes a smaller span across the former site of Little Hell Gate, which separated Randalls and Wards Islands. Also part of the complex is a grade-separated T-interchange on Randalls Island, which sorted out traffic in a way that ensured that drivers paid a toll at only one bank of tollbooths. The tollbooths have since been removed, and all tolls are collected electronically at the approaches to each bridge.
The bridge complex was designed by chief engineer Othmar H. Ammann and architect Aymar Embury II, and has been called "not a bridge so much as a traffic machine, the largest ever built". The American Society of Civil Engineers designated the Triborough Bridge Project as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1986. The bridge is owned and operated by MTA Bridges and Tunnels (formerly the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, or TBTA), a division of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
1936Jul, 11
The Triborough Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic.
Choose Another Date
Events on 1936
- 7Mar
Treaty of Versailles
Prelude to World War II: In violation of the Locarno Pact and the Treaty of Versailles, Germany reoccupies the Rhineland. - 29Mar
Remilitarization of the Rhineland
In Germany, Adolf Hitler receives 99% of the votes in a referendum to ratify Germany's illegal remilitarization and reoccupation of the Rhineland, receiving 44.5 million votes out of 45.5 million registered voters. - 9May
Addis Ababa
Italy formally annexes Ethiopia after taking the capital Addis Ababa on May 5. - 26Jul
Spanish Civil War
The Axis powers decide to intervene in the Spanish Civil War. - 7Sep
Benjamin the thylacine
The last thylacine, a carnivorous marsupial named Benjamin, dies alone in its cage at the Hobart Zoo in Tasmania.