Throgs Neck Bridge

The Throgs Neck Bridge is a suspension bridge opened on January 11, 1961, which carries Interstate 295 over the East River where it meets the Long Island Sound. The bridge connects the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx with the Bay Terrace section of Queens. It is the newest bridge across the East River and was built to relieve traffic on the Whitestone Bridge 2 miles to the west, which opened in 1939. The Throgs Neck Bridge is the easternmost crossing off of Long Island. Due to this and its proximity to both the Cross Bronx Expressway and the New England Thruway, it is the preferred route from Long Island to New Jersey via the George Washington Bridge, upstate New York, Connecticut and other points north and east.

The Throgs Neck Bridge is owned by the City of New York and operated by the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, an affiliate agency of the MTA.

History

The Throgs Neck Bridge was planned and managed by Robert Moses. His first plan for a Throgs Neck span dates back to 1945, six years after the nearby Bronx–Whitestone Bridge was completed 2 miles (3 km) to the west. This bridge was one of the few not intended for the Belt System of highways wrapping around Queens and Brooklyn. Moses commissioned famed New York City bridge designer Othmar Ammann, the man behind the George Washington, Bronx-Whitestone, Verrazano-Narrows, and Triborough bridges. This was Ammann's first long-span job after 1940, which saw the collapse of the original Tacoma Narrows Suspension Bridge in the state of Washington. Instead of employing a rather streamlined-looking plate-girder system, Ammann constructed his bridge with 28-foot-deep (8.5 m) stiffening trusses under the deck. These would weight the bridge and allow any wind to simply blow through, instead of against, the bridge.

Throggs Neck

Throggs Neck (also known as Throgs Neck) is a narrow spit of land in the southeastern portion of the borough of the Bronx in New York City. It demarcates the passage between the East River (an estuary), and Long Island Sound. "Throggs Neck" is also the name of the neighborhood of the peninsula, bounded on the north by East Tremont Avenue and Baisley Avenue, on the west by Westchester Creek, and on the other sides by the River and the Sound. The neighborhood is part of Bronx Community Board 10. Throggs Neck was largely exempt from the severe urban decay that affected much of the Bronx in the 1970s.

Throggs Neck is at the northern approach to the Throgs Neck Bridge, which connects the Bronx with the neighborhood of Bay Terrace in the borough of Queens on Long Island. The Throgs Neck Lighthouse formerly stood at its southern tip. Historically, the correct spelling is with two Gs, and while NYC Parks Commissioner and Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority Chairman Robert Moses officially shortened it to one G after deciding that two would not fit on many of the street signs, long-time residents continue to recognize the traditional spelling. On September 17, 2012, News12 (Bronx) reported a story about the differences in spelling.