Arthur Kill Vertical Lift Bridge facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Arthur Kill Vertical Lift Bridge |
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Arthur Kill Lift Bridge
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| Coordinates | 40°38′15″N 74°11′44″W / 40.637518°N 74.195486°W |
| Carries | Conrail |
| Crosses | Arthur Kill |
| Locale | Elizabeth, New Jersey and Staten Island, New York, United States |
| Owner | New York City Economic Development Corporation |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Vertical-lift bridge |
| Height | 215 feet (66 m) |
| Longest span | 558 feet (170 m) |
| Clearance below | 135 feet (41 m) open 31 feet (9.4 m) closed |
| History | |
| Opened | August 25, 1959; reopened October 4, 2006 |
The Arthur Kill Vertical Lift Railroad Bridge is a special kind of bridge. It connects Elizabethport, New Jersey, with Staten Island, New York. This bridge carries trains over the Arthur Kill waterway. It was built in 1959 by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. This new bridge replaced an older swing bridge from 1890.
The bridge has only one track. It is mainly used to carry garbage out of New York City. It also moves other goods to places on western Staten Island. This bridge is very close to the Goethals Bridge, which cars use. The Arthur Kill Bridge has the longest lift span of any vertical-lift bridge in the world. It has two tall towers, each 215 feet (66 meters) high. The main part of the bridge is 558 feet (170 meters) long. This allows a wide channel for ships to pass. When the bridge is closed, it is 31 feet (9.4 meters) above the water. When it is lifted, it is 135 feet (41 meters) high.
First Period of Use: A Quiet Time
The Arthur Kill Bridge opened in 1959. But soon after, fewer trains used it. Many factories on Staten Island closed down. For example, Bethlehem Steel closed in 1960. U.S. Gypsum closed in 1972. Other big companies like U.S. Lines and Procter and Gamble also shut down.
Also, more goods started moving by truck instead of by train. This meant less need for the rail bridge. The part of the railway connected to the bridge changed owners several times. Companies like B&O Railroad and CSX owned it. They saw the bridge as something they didn't really need. The last freight train crossed the bridge in 1990. After that, the rail service on Staten Island stopped for many years.
Second Period of Use: Back in Action
In 1994, the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) bought the bridge. They also bought the railway line connected to it. In 2004, NYCEDC and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced a big plan. They would spend $72 million to fix up the bridge. The goal was to bring train service back to Staten Island.
Workers repainted the bridge a bright royal blue. This color was a tribute to the old B&O Railroad. They also fixed the special lifting parts of the bridge. All the repairs were finished in June 2006.
On October 4, 2006, a train crossed the bridge again. It was the first train in 16 years! It was just a single engine. It went to the New York Container Terminal to help move things around.
Regular train service started on April 2, 2007. Trains began carrying garbage from the Staten Island Transfer Station. This helped remove about 90,000 truckloads of garbage from the nearby Goethals Bridge each year. On October 4, 2007, the New York Container Terminal started a new service. It was called ExpressRail. This service allowed trains from Conrail, CSX, and Norfolk Southern to use the bridge regularly. In 2013, a company called Covanta Energy made a deal. They would send garbage by boat to the terminal. Then, it would be put on trains to go to special power plants.
The Arthur Kill is an important waterway for ships. So, the bridge is usually kept in the raised position. This allows ships to pass underneath. It only lowers when a train needs to cross. As of 2018, there are rules about when the bridge can be lowered. It can only be lowered for two 15-minute periods each day. They also need to give advance warning. The bridge cannot be lowered during high tide. Conrail, which runs one train a day to Staten Island, says these rules do not cause problems now. But they might if more trains need to cross in the future.
Image gallery
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View of the track.
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