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Outerbridge Crossing

Outerbridge Crossing

Primary Photographer(s): Nathan Holth

Bridge Documented: October 19, 2013

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Facility Carried / Feature Intersected
NY-440 and NJ-440 Over Arthur Kill
Location
Perth Amboy and New York: Middlesex County, New Jersey and Staten Island, New York: United States
Structure Type
Metal Cantilever 20 Panel Rivet-Connected Warren Through Truss, Fixed and Approach Spans: Metal Deck Girder, Fixed
Construction Date and Builder / Engineer
1928 By Builder/Contractor: Unknown and Engineer/Design: J. A. L. Waddell
Rehabilitation Date
2013
Main Span Length
750.0 Feet (228.6 Meters)
Structure Length
10,140.0 Feet (3090.7 Meters)
Roadway Width
39.7 Feet (12.1 Meters)
Spans
5 Main Span(s) and 74 Approach Span(s)
Inventory Number
5523069

Historic Significance Rating (HSR)
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Bridge Documentation

View Archived National Bridge Inventory Report - Has Additional Details and Evaluation

View Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) Documentation For This Bridge

View Historical Article About This Bridge

This bridge is a beautiful example of a cantilever truss bridge. With simple deck plate girder approach spans that provide a long approach up to the needed height for boats, its main truss spans stand out boldly beside the simple girder spans. The bridge sits on attractive arched concrete piers. A true cantilever truss bridge, its main spans include a suspended span held by cantilever arms and balanced by anchor arm spans at either end. The bridge was designed by J. A. L. Waddell, a famous bridge engineer who is noted for his texts on engineering and for pioneering the modern vertical lift bridge. Despite serving heavy traffic, the bridge superstructure and substructure appears to retain excellent historic integrity with no major alterations.

This bridge was built at the same time and designed by the same engineer as the Goethals Bridge. Stylistically, the two bridges are very similar. However, there is one important structural difference. The Outerbridge Crossing has an extra through truss span at each end of the main span segment of the bridge. These extra spans are continuous with the three center main spans. This design feature is unusual among cantilever truss bridges and distinguishes this bridge are particularly noteworthy.

With the Goethals Bridge slated for demolition, the Outerbridge Crossing will only become more rare and significant. Its preservation should be given a very high priority. However, the demolition of the Goethals Bridge makes the future of this bridge, which is also owned by the Port Authority, questionable at best.

This is perhaps one of the most perfectly named bridges around. Its name is, just by coincidence, both in memorial of someone yet descriptive as well. The bridge was named Outerbridge after Eugenius Harvey Outerbridge, the first chairman of the Port of New York Authority as it was called at the time. However, Mr. Outerbridge's name also works nicely for this bridge which can be thought of as the "Outer Bridge" of New York City, being the southernmost bridge in both the city and the state.

HistoricBridges.org currently only has a partial collection of photos for this bridge, mostly overviews.

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Photo Galleries and Videos: Outerbridge Crossing

 

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Maps and Links: Outerbridge Crossing

Coordinates (Latitude, Longitude):

Search For Additional Bridge Listings:

Bridgehunter.com: View listed bridges within 0.5 miles (0.8 kilometers) of this bridge.

Bridgehunter.com: View listed bridges within 10 miles (16 kilometers) of this bridge.

HistoricBridges.org Bridge Browser: View listed bridges within 0.5 miles (0.8 kilometers) of this bridge.

HistoricBridges.org Bridge Browser: View listed bridges within 10 miles (16 kilometers) of this bridge.

2021 National Bridge Inventory: View listed bridges within 0.5 miles (0.8 kilometers) of this bridge.

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