Old Bridge
July 25, 2017 By Nathaly Pesantez
The main span of the old Kosciuszko Bridge is coming down.
The 300-foot span will be lowered onto a barge on the Newtown Creek today, and floated out tomorrow, July 26.
Steel cables will be used to lower the span approximately 125 feet at an estimated 20 feet per hour, according to the Department of Transportation.
The entire operation is expected to last 16 to 18 hours.
The old span will be recycled, with 4 million pounds coming from the main span and 22 million from the Brooklyn and Queens bridge approaches.
The operation is part of an $873 million investment to replace the 78-year-old bridge with two new state-of-the-art spans.
The first span became open to traffic in April. The second portion of the bridge is expected to open in early 2020.
News spread widely on Facebook that the old Kosciuszko bridge span would be blown up on July 11. However, the Department of Transportation said at the time that it had no set date for the span’s lowering and it would not go out with a big bang.
The new Kosciuszko Bridge opened in April to an elaborate light show with music. It is expected to serve 200,000 people each day.
Featured Events
