The Roosevelt Island Tramway is an aerial tramway in New York City that spans the East River and connects Roosevelt Island to Manhattan. It is the only commuter aerial tramway in North America. Each cabin has a capacity of up to 125 people and makes approximately 115 trips per day. The tram moves at about 16 miles per hour and travels 3,100 feet in 4.5 minutes. At its peak it climbs to 250 feet above the East River as it follows its route on the north side of the Queensboro Bridge.
Historically Roosevelt Island was connected to Manhattan by a trolley line that crossed over the Queensboro Bridge. Trolleys westbound from Queens stopped halfway the bridge to meet an elevator, which then took passengers down to the island. As the only connection to the rest of the city from the island, the trolley remained in service until 1957, long after most other trolley service had been dismantled in the city, and was the last trolley line in New York State.
Beginning in the mid-1970's, Roosevelt Island was redeveloped to accommodate low- to mid-income housing projects, necessitating the construction of a new public transit connection to the city. The trolley tracks had deteriorated too much to be usable and the planned subway connection to the island (the IND 63rd Street Line) had not yet been completed. The tramway was built in 1976 by the Swiss company Von Roll as a temporary transportation solution to the island. As the subway project fell further behind schedule, the "Tram" became more popular and was converted into a permanent facility. The subway connection to the island was finally completed in 1988.
The Roosevelt Island tram was the setting for a significant scene in the 2002 movie Spider-Man. In that movie, the Green Goblin throws Mary Jane Watson from the bridge, and Spider-Man must decide between saving her or passengers on the Roosevelt Island tram.
The Queensboro Bridge, commonly called the "59th Street Bridge", was the world's greatest cantilever bridge at the time of its construction in 1909. For more info on the bridge, see this picture
The Queensboro Bridge was designated a landmark by the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1974.
Queensboro Bridge National Register #78001879 (1978)
Tags: NYC midtown Queensboro Bridge bridge tram Manhattan New York City Cable car Roosevelt Island Tramway tramway 59th Street Bridge Urban Waterfront Q ny landmark welfare island Blackwell's Island Roosevelt Island NYCLPC east river cantilever cantilever bride gustav lidenthal henry hornbostel RIOC New York National Register of Historic Places New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission NRHP U.S. National Register of Historic Places
The Roosevelt Island Tramway is an aerial tramway in New York City that spans the East River and connects Roosevelt Island to Manhattan. It is the only commuter aerial tramway in North America. Each cabin has a capacity of up to 125 people and makes approximately 115 trips per day. The tram moves at about 16 miles per hour and travels 3,100 feet in 4.5 minutes. At its peak it climbs to 250 feet above the East River as it follows its route on the north side of the Queensboro Bridge.
Historically Roosevelt Island was connected to Manhattan by a trolley line that crossed over the Queensboro Bridge. Trolleys westbound from Queens stopped halfway the bridge to meet an elevator, which then took passengers down to the island. As the only connection to the rest of the city from the island, the trolley remained in service until 1957, long after most other trolley service had been dismantled in the city, and was the last trolley line in New York State.
Beginning in the mid-1970's, Roosevelt Island was redeveloped to accommodate low- to mid-income housing projects, necessitating the construction of a new public transit connection to the city. The trolley tracks had deteriorated too much to be usable and the planned subway connection to the island (the IND 63rd Street Line) had not yet been completed. The tramway was built in 1976 by the Swiss company Von Roll as a temporary transportation solution to the island. As the subway project fell further behind schedule, the "Tram" became more popular and was converted into a permanent facility. The subway connection to the island was finally completed in 1988.
Tags: NYC tram Manhattan New York City midtown perspective Roosevelt Island Tramway cable car tramway ny welfare island Blackwell's Island Roosevelt Island New York
The Queensboro Bridge crosses the East River connecting Long Island City with Manhattan, passing over Roosevelt Island. At the time of its construction, the Queensboro Bridge was the greatest cantilever bridge in the world. Commonly called the "59th Street Bridge", it carries New York State Route 25 and once carried NY 24 and NY 25A as well. The alternative name was popularized by the Simon and Garfunkel song The 59th St. Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy), although New Yorkers took to calling it the 59th Street Bridge long before the song. As the third bridge to span the East River and the first to connect Queens to Manhattan, it was a potent influence on the development of the outer borough.
Serious proposals for a bridge linking Manhattan to Long Island City were first made as early as 1838 and attempts to finance such a bridge were made by a private company beginning in 1867. Its efforts never came to fruition and the company went bankrupt in the 1890s. Successful plans finally came about in 1903 under the city's new Department of Bridges, led by Gustav Lindenthal in collaboration with Leffert L. Buck and Henry Hornbostel, designers of the Williamsburg Bridge. Inspired by the Pont Mirabeau in Paris, Construction soon began but it would take until 1909 for the bridge to be completed due to delays from the collapse of an incomplete span during a windstorm and from labor unrest (including an attempt to dynamite one span). The bridge opened to the public on March 30, 1909, having cost about $18 million and 50 lives. It was then known as the Blackwell's Island Bridge, from an earlier name for Roosevelt Island.
The lengths of its five spans and approaches are:
- Manhattan to Roosevelt Island span length: 1,182 ft (360 m)
- Roosevelt Island span length: 630 ft (192 m)
- Roosevelt Island to Queens span length: 984 ft (300 m)
- side span lengths: 469 and 459 ft (143 and 140 m)
- total length between anchorages: 3724 ft (1135 m)
- total length including approaches: 7449 ft (2270 m)
The bridge has two levels. Originally the top level contained two automobile pedestrian walks and two elevated railway tracks (as a spur from the IRT Second Avenue Line) and the lower deck four traffic lanes, and what is now the "outer roadway" and pedestrian walk were two trolley lanes. The railway and trolley lanes would be removed in the 1940s and 1950s, and for the next few decades the bridge carried 11 lanes of automobile traffic. No tolls are charged for motor vehicles to use the bridge.
The Queensboro is prominently displayed during the opening credits of the television series Taxi, as a cab driven by Tony Danza drives across it. It is also the setting for a significant scene in Spider-Man, where the Green Goblin throws Mary Jane Watson from the bridge, and Spider-Man must decide between saving her or passengers on the Roosevelt Island tram
The Queensboro Bridge was designated a landmark by the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1974.
National Register #78001879 (1978)
Tags: NYC Queens Long Island City bridge Manhattan New York City midtown Queensboro Bridge 59th Street Bridge East River river Urban Waterfront cantilever cantilever bridge Blackwell's Island Bridge ny landmark welfare island Blackwell's Island Roosevelt Island NYCLPC cantilever bride gustav lidenthal henry hornbostel New York National Register of Historic Places New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission NRHP U.S. National Register of Historic Places
The FDR Drive is a major freeway-standard parkway on the east side of the Manhattan. It runs along the East River from the Battery Park Underpass under Battery Park (north of which it is the South Street Viaduct for a bit) north to the Triborough Bridge (where it becomes the Harlem River Drive).
It was originally named East River Drive, and was renamed after Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Its New York State Reference Route is 907L. It is referred to by locals as simply "The FDR". In the 1980s, chunks of the elevated road falling to the ground led to the joke that "FDR" stood for "Falling Down Roadway".
Tags: NYC midtown highway FDR Drive East River Manhattan New York City Urban Waterfront Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive FDR East River Drive East River Drive ny New York
Citicorp Building is a 658-foot (201m), 50-story office tower in Long Island City. Completed in 1990 by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP for the bank Citigroup, the tower is the tallest building on Long Island and tallest in New York City outside Manhattan. The only building in the US outside a central business district which is taller is the Williams Tower in Houston. Also known as One Court Square, the tower is glass-wrapped and green tinted and can accomodate 3500 employees.
The Queensboro Bridge, commonly called the "59th Street Bridge", was the world's greatest cantilever bridge at the time of its construction in 1909. For more info on the bridge, see this picture
The Queensboro Bridge was designated a landmark by the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1974.
Queensboro Bridge National Register #78001879 (1978)
Queensboro Bridge National Register #78001879
Tags: NYC Long Island City LIC Queensboro Bridge bridge skyscraper queens Manhattan New York City midtown perspective 59th Street Bridge citigroup tower Citibank Tower Citicorp Building skidmore, owings and merrill Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP citigroup citicorp citicorp tower citibank Skidmore, Owings & Merrill SOM ny landmark one court square NYCLPC east river cantilever cantilever bride gustav lidenthal henry hornbostel New York National Register of Historic Places New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission NRHP U.S. National Register of Historic Places