8 THE QUEENS COURIER • OCTOBER 5, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
An ‘energetic’ end for the old Kosciuszko Bridge
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com / @robbpoz
What’s left of the 78-year-old traffi c
nightmare that was the old Kosciuszko
Bridge went out with a split-second bang
on Sunday morning.
At 8 a.m. on Oct. 1, crews pushed the
button that ignited an “energetic felling”
of the structure, as Governor Andrew
Cuomo called it, sending down the
bridge’s approaches on the Queens and
Brooklyn sides of the Newtown Creek.
Th e main steel span was dismantled, lowered
onto a barge and shipped away back
in July.
Th e blast was audible to residents living
within a few miles of the span. Hundreds
of spectators gathered on the Brooklyn
side cheered as the 20 remaining trusses
fell.
Th e pilings landed onto berms of soil to
reduce dust exposure. Th e governor estimates
that 22 million pounds of the old
bridge’s steel will be recovered and recycled.
Th e old bridge’s demolition clears
the way for the state Transportation
Department to build a second cablestayed
bridge nearly identical to the one
that opened in April. Imploding the old
bridge, Cuomo previously said, would
reduce the project to build the second
bridge by seven to nine months. Th e new
span is expected to be completed in 2019.
Rumors about when the old bridge
would come down had circulated for
months. A previously announced
September date turned out to be inaccurate.
QNS fi rst reported about Sunday’s
demolition date on Sept. 27.
Th e Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and
the new Kosciuszko Bridge were closed
for a number of minutes before and aft er
the implosion. A number of local streets
in Maspeth and Greenpoint had been
closed since Saturday night as crews prepared
for the operation.
LED lights coming to the Sunnyside Arch
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Photo courtesy of City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer
Photo by Walter Karling
The remains of the Old Kosciuszko Bridge were imploded in an “energetic felling” on Oct. 1.
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com / @AngelaMatua
Th e 34-year-old arch that welcomes people
as they enter Sunnyside will receive a burst of
funding to ensure their lights are always fl ashing.
Th e arch, which was built in 1983 and stands
25 feet tall, was last renovated in 2009 when former
Queen Borough President Helen Marshall
and other offi cials allocated $500,000 for bike
racks, benches and trees. It is located on 46th
Street and Queens Boulevard.
Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer has pledged
$15,000 to the Sunnyside Shines Business
Improvement District, which will make renovations
that include replacing and upgrading the
sign’s lighting system to digital LED lights.
“I am proud to support the work of Sunnyside
Shines and to fund this vital renovation of the
Sunnyside arch.” Van Bramer said. “For decades,
this arch has served as a gateway to this incredible
neighborhood and to the entire borough of
Queens. I look forward to the new lighting and
to keeping this arch a neighborhood icon that we
can all be proud of.”
Th ough the lights were added in 2011 the
system had not been functioning regularly.
Currently, there are no lights on the sign.
According to Van Bramer, the renovations
should be complete by the end of this year or
early next year.