Goethals Bridge

Goethals Bridge
Goethals Bridge
	File:DSCN3796 goethalsbridge e.JPG The Goethals Bridge, seen from Staten Island
Coordinates	40°38′08″N 74°11′50″W / 40.6356°N 74.1972°W
Carries	4 lanes of I-278
Crosses	Arthur Kill
Locale	Elizabeth, New Jersey and Staten Island, New York
Maintained by	Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Characteristics
Design	Cantilever bridge
Total length	2,164.08 m (7,100 feet)
Width	18.90 m (62 feet)
Longest span	204.83 m (672 feet)
Clearance above	4.3 m (14 feet)
Clearance below	42.67 m (140 feet)
History
Opened	June 29, 1928
Statistics
Toll	$6.00 (eastbound) (EZ-Pass)
Location

The Goethals Bridge (pronounced "GŌ-thüls") connects Elizabeth, New Jersey to Staten Island, New York over the Arthur Kill. It is operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and was one of the first structures built by the authority. The bridge is part of Interstate 278. The bridge is named for Major General George W. Goethals, builder of the Panama Canal and the first consulting engineer of the Port Authority.

A steel truss cantilever design by John Alexander Low Waddell, the bridge is 205 m long (672 feet) central span, 2,621 m long (8,600 feet) in total, 18.9 m wide (62 feet), has a clearance of 41.15 m (135 feet) and has four lanes for traffic. It is named after the Port Authority engineer George Washington Goethals, who died before the dedication. The authority had $3 million of state money and raised $14 million in bonds to build the Goethals Bridge and the Outerbridge Crossing, the Goethals bridge construction began on September 1, 1925 and cost $7.2 million. It and the Outerbridge Crossing were opened on June 29, 1928. The Goethals Bridge replaced three ferries and augmented the existing Arthur Kill rail bridge. Its unusual mid-span height was a requirement of the New Jersey ports.

Connecting onto the New Jersey Turnpike, it is one of the main routes for traffic between there and Brooklyn via the Staten Island Expressway and the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. Until the bridge to Brooklyn was completed in 1964 the Goethals Bridge never turned a profit. The total traffic in 2002 was 15.68 million vehicles.

The Goethals Bridge has two 10-foot (3 m) lanes in each direction, which do not meet today’s 12-foot (3.7 m) wide highway design standards and has no shoulders for emergency access. To meet modern standards,a new parallel bridge is planned, dividing the westbound and eastbound traffic between the old and new bridges.

External links

Goethals Bridge Replacement