This 1999
photo shows the Bayonne Bridge (NY 440-NJ 440) over the Kill van Kull,
as shown from the Mariners Harbor section of Staten Island. (Photo by
Steve Anderson.)
CROSSING THE KILL VAN KULL:
Running between the southern tip of the Bayonne Peninsula and the north
shore of Staten Island, the Kill van Kull joins New York Harbor with
Newark Bay. Named after early Dutch settlers in the area, the waterway
is among the busiest shipping channels in the world. Soon after
commercial ferry service was initiated in the 1820's, towns grew on
either side of the channel, developing a system of streets, rail lines
and transportation terminals as extensions of the ferry.
In the early
years of the twentieth century, pressure grew inevitably for a bridge
linking Staten Island with the Bayonne Peninsula. Planners expected that
the bridge would follow the route of the ferry, since the construction
of the bridge and its approaches would involve the least amount of
destruction to taxable property, and would be most convenient to major
street connections on both sides of the Kill van Kull.
Soon after
the governors of New York and New Jersey authorized the Port of New
York Authority in 1921, the new agency approved the Bayonne Bridge for
construction. The Port Authority, whose jurisdiction was limited to
interstate transportation, expected that the Bayonne Bridge would
provide a convenient route between Staten Island and the Holland Tunnel.
Before ground was broken for the Bayonne Bridge, engineers
considered the following designs suitable for a main span of 1,500 feet,
including designs for a cantilever bridge and a suspension bridge:
Almost
immediately, the cantilever design was deemed too impractical, too
unattractive, and because it required the most amount of steel, too
expensive.
The
suspension bridge design, which included deck stiffening trusses and
diagonal tower bracing, was seriously considered until it was discovered
that deep, expensive excavations in the bedrock for the anchorages
would be needed. Moreover, the accommodation of two proposed rail lines
added to the cost.
The
steel-arch design planned by Othmar Ammann, the master bridge designer
and chief engineer of the Port Authority, was ultimately considered most
practical for this route. Although the cost of the suspension span was
estimated at one-half million dollars less than that of the arch span,
the greater stiffness of the arch design was deemed suitable to carry
the proposed rail lines.
The revised design of the Bayonne Bridge arch was to feature a
slender, hyperbolic curve over the roadway, while the stiffening trusses
were to form repetitive triangles. Building upon the design of the Hell
Gate Bridge, which was constructed by Ammann's mentor, Gustav
Lindenthal, the steel-arch design of the Bayonne Bridge was to blend in
with the low-lying industrial landscape. Architect Cass Gilbert, who
joined Ammann in the design work for the George Washington Bridge,
assisted in the final design work.
This 1930
photo shows the construction of the suspended roadway on the Bayonne
Bridge. The roadway is suspended by wire rope hangers. (Photo by Port
Authority of New York and New Jersey.)
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION:
Ground was broken for the Bayonne Bridge on September 1, 1928. The span
is comprised of a two-hinged, spandrel-braced trussed arch in which the
bottom chords form a perfect parabolic arch. As the span's primary
structural members, these manganese-steel chords carry most of the dead
load and uniform live load, which is then transferred to the concrete
abutments. The span's top chords (which were constructed from a lighter
silicon steel) and web members are stressed by live loads and
temperature.
The arch
trusses, which run parallel to the outside of the suspended roadway, are
67 feet, 6 inches deep at the abutments, but taper gradually toward
midspan to a depth of 37 feet, 6 inches. At midspan, the chords rise 266
feet above Kill van Kull. According to Ammann:
The
general outline of the arch, with height decreasing from the center
toward the ends, was preserved principally for its pleasing appearance.
The
arch is comprised of 40 connected truss segments, each of them
fabricated off-site. Unlike most free-standing arch bridges, which are
constructed by scaffolding, the Bayonne Bridge was constructed by a
combination of cantilever and falsework methods. To keep the Kill van
Kull open at all times as an important naval and shipping route, only a
few bents and a traveling crane were used to assemble the bridge.
The
abutments were constructed to support the transfer of the bridge's load
from the lower chords. Solid rock from the New Jersey Palisades
continues along the Bayonne Peninsula, under the Kill van Kull and onto
Staten Island, making for an ideal foundation. Originally designed for
encasement in ornamental stonework, the abutments were left with their
steelwork exposed due to the fiscal restraints of the Great Depression.
(Another Port Authority crossing, the George Washington Bridge, did not
have granite facing as originally planned. In both cases, the lack of
granite facing arguably adds to the purity of the steel structure.)
Once the
arches were connected, work commenced on constructing the bridge's
roadway and approaches. A network of perpendicular beams, girders and
stringers support the bridge's suspended deck. Sections of the roadway
deck, which could accommodate four lanes of vehicular traffic (with
expansion room for two additional traffic lanes or light rail tracks),
were fabricated off-site, transported by barge, and hoisted into place. A
pedestrian walkway was cantilevered from the primary roadway deck.
In
order to reach a midspan point of 150 feet over the Kill van Kull, long
approaches rising with a four percent grade were constructed on either
side of the main arch. Reinforced concrete piers, ranging in height from
20 feet to 110 feet, support a steel-plate and concrete roadway.
When
the $13 million Bayonne Bridge opened on November 15, 1931, it had
become the longest steel-arch bridge in the world, beating the
Australia's Sydney Harbor Bridge (which also opened that year) by a mere
two feet. From a view on the roadway, one can observe a network of
steel lace in the 325-foot-high arch. These design attributes earned
accolades from the American Institute of Steel Construction, which
bestowed on the Bayonne Bridge the honor of "Most Beautiful Structure of
Steel of 1931."
Since 1952, the Bayonne Bridge has carried the
Route 440 designation between New York and New Jersey. The Bayonne
Bridge maintained the title as the world's longest steel-arch span until
1978, when the New River Gorge Bridge, with its 1,700-foot center span,
opened in Fayetteville, West Virginia. Even today, the Bayonne Bridge
has the second-longest steel arch span in the world.
PLENTY OF CAPACITY LEFT:
Traffic engineers had expected that an additional two lanes would be
needed on the Bayonne Bridge by 1955. However, a significant commuting
pattern between Staten Island and Manhattan via the Bayonne
Bridge-Holland Tunnel route never materialized. Indeed, during its first
15 years, very few people used the Bayonne Bridge. In 1946, a
devastating fire swept through the St. George Ferry Terminal on the
northeast corner of Staten Island. Ferry patrons, many of whom did not
even know about the existence of the Bayonne Bridge, began to use it (as
well as the Holland Tunnel) as an alternate route to Manhattan.
THE BAYONNE BRIDGE TODAY:
The Bayonne Bridge carries approximately 20,000 vehicles per day (AADT)
over its four lanes. The bridge links the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Expressway (NY 440) and the Staten Island Expressway (I-278) with NJ 440
in Hudson County, New Jersey. In addition, the Bayonne Bridge has a
walkway for pedestrians and bicycles.
At the end of 2003, the
Port Authority completed high-speed EZ-Pass lanes at the Bayonne Bridge
toll plaza. The left Staten Island-bound toll lanes have a maximum speed
of 25 MPH, versus the original EZ-Pass lane speed of 5 MPH. Because of
the close proximity of the other toll lanes, it was not possible to
build highway-speed EZ-Pass lanes at this location.
In 2004, the
Port Authority completed a four-year, $46 million project to
rehabilitate the main steel-arch span and the bridge deck.
TALLER SHIPS PROMPT CALLS TO REPLACE THE BRIDGE:
When the Bayonne Bridge opened, it had ample clearance for the tallest
freight vessels, which at the time measured 100 feet to the top of the
mast. With the tallest vessels now measuring up to 175 feet high, many
cargo ships traveling the Kill van Kull must pass under the bridge at
low tide because there is not enough vertical clearance.
Fearful
of losing port business to other East Coast ports, officials are
considering either raising or replacing the Bayonne Bridge:
RAISING
EXISTING SPAN: Under this scenario, the roadway would be removed and
the bridge piers extended higher. Using the existing structural steel of
the superstructure, new suspension cables would be installed to suspend
a new four-lane roadway 185 feet above Kill van Kull, or 35 feet above
the current position. Construction of this design, whose cost is
estimated at approximately $500 million, has been criticized as marring
the appearance of the original bridge.
BRIDGE
REPLACEMENT: Under this scenario, a new bridge would be built alongside
the original bridge. The new bridge, whose design has not been
determined (though it likely would be a cable-stay design), would carry
four lanes of vehicular traffic and possibly two tracks for a future
Hudson-Bergen light rail extension to Staten Island. It also would have
at least 200 feet of vertical clearance. The cost of this plan would be
approximately $1 billion.
The Port Authority estimates that either plan would take at least
three years to complete upon final approval by Federal and state
governments. The agency also anticipates that Kill van Kull would have
to be closed to navigation for one month under construction.
This 2001
photo shows the interior arches along the northbound Bayonne Bridge (NY
440-NJ 440). Note the lack of a median barrier on the four-lane arch
span. (Photo by Mike Tantillo.)
Type of bridge: Construction started: Opened to traffic: Length of arch span: Length of New Jersey viaduct: Length of Staten Island viaduct: Total length of elevated structure: Width of bridge: Number of traffic lanes: Width of roadway: Channel clearance of bridge at mid-span: Height of arch above water at top: Number of truss segments: Width between arch trusses: Height between spandrel arches (at top): Height between spandrel arches (at bottom): Structural steel used on bridge and approaches: Cost of original structure:
SOURCES: The Bridges of New York by Sharon Reier, Quadrant Press (1977); Great American Bridges and Dams by Donald C. Jackson, Preservation Press-John Wiley and Sons (1988); Engineers of Dreams
by Henry Petroski, Vintage Books-Random House (1995); "A Guide to Civil
Engineering Projects in and Around New York City," American Society of
Civil Engineers (1997); Bridges by Judith Dupre, Black Dog And Leventhal Publishers (1997); Perpetual Motion: The Illustrated History of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey by Joe Mysak and Judith Schiffer, General Publishing Group (1997); The Creation of Bridges by David Bennett, Chartwell Books (1999); Six Bridges: The Legacy of Othmar H. Ammann by Darl Rastorfer, Yale University Press (2000); "Happy Birthday: EZ-Pass Turns Ten" by Sy Oshinsky and Chris King, AAA-Car and Travel Magazine
(December 2003); "Cutting It Close: Bayonne Bridge's Height Is Trouble
for Shops and a Costly Question for the Port Authority" by Susan Todd, The Star-Ledger
(5/19/2006); New Jersey Department of Transportation; North Jersey
Transportation Planning Authority; Port Authority of New York and New
Jersey; Hank Eisenstein; Dave Frieder; Ralph Herman; Marc Rivlin;
Christof Spieler; St�phane Theroux.
Bayonne Bridge, NY 440, and NJ 440 shields by Ralph Herman.
Lightposts by Millerbernd Manufacturing Company.
BAYONNE BRIDGE LINKS:
Bayonne Bridge (Port Authority of New York and New Jersey)
