46 DECEMBER 24, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Crossing the history of
BY THE OLD TIMER
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
EDITORIAL@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
This week, we continue our trip
down the Newtown Creek,
begun last week, to examine
the various bridges that cross this
important waterway that serves as
the boundary between northern
Brooklyn and Long Island City.
The Kosciuszko Bridge has been in
the news quite oft en over the 15 years,
and not just because of the traffi c. In
the last three years alone, brand new
twin cable-stayed spans have replaced
the singular metal albatross that
soared over the creek and became a
shining example of the city’s traffi c
problems.
Of all the spans that cross the creek,
the Kosciuszko Bridge is the largest
and most widely used span, largely because
it carries the Brooklyn-Queens
Expressway. Tens of thousands of
vehicles have crossed one version of
the bridge or another each day for
decades.
Even though it cost taxpayers
nearly a billion dollars to replace the
The completed Kosciuszko Bridge, shown just prior to its opening in August 1939.
Courtesy NYC Municipal Archives/Reprinted with permission
steel span with the twin cable-stayed
bridges, drivers aren’t charged a toll
to cross it today. That wasn’t always
true.
Turn the clock back nearly 220
years to when the first version of
the crossing opened close to the Kosciuszko
Bridge’s location, and you’ll
find what was then known as the
Penny Bridge. The name, as you might
expect, derived from the fact that it
cost passengers a penny to cross the
span.
The toll bridge was established in
1803 through a state legislative act,
and it became an important link for
farming communities on both sides
of the creek — connecting Brooklyn’s
Meeker Avenue with Queens’ Review
Avenue and Laurel Hill Boulevard.
Over the next 90 years, the bridge
remained in private operation until
the City of Brooklyn assumed control
in 1896. Two years later, Brooklyn became
a part of the Greater City of New
York, and control of the bridge shift ed
to the New York City government.
The toll went away over time, and
the bridge became known as the
Meeker Avenue Bridge. But by the
1930s, with the active industrial area
bringing in large ships, the city decided
to replace the swing bridge with
something taller and more sturdy.
The steel truss Meeker Avenue
Bridge opened in August 1939 for
a cost ranging between $6 and $13
million. It was built to be the area’s
The steel girders of the then-Meeker Avenue Bridge without the steel truss. Courtesy NYC Municipal Archives/Reprinted with permission
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