Cuomo heralds new Kosciuszko Bridge
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Gov. Andrew Cuomo greets a worker on the new Kosciuszko Bridge. Brooklyn-bound lanes will open Thursday. Eagle photos by Christina Santucci.
By Christina Santucci
The second span of the new Kosciuszko Bridge is now open to vehicles, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday during a tour of the roadway with Assemblymember Joseph Lentol. The lawmakers also announced state funds for a planned waterfront park on the Brooklyn side of Newtown Creek during the event.
Pedestrians and bicyclists will get a car-free sneak preview of the roadway Wednesday from noon until 6 p.m. Traffic is expected to open on five Queens-bound lanes and four Brooklyn-bound lanes Thursday morning.
"This was a very ambitious goal, a very ambitious timeline. A lot of people thought it was impossible but we actually got it done, and tomorrow it is going to be functioning, knock wood," Cuomo said at the event, before rapping on the podium.
The span is the first new bridge built in New York City since 1964.
Replacing an 80-year-old structure designed for 10,000 cars per day and originally called the Meeker Avenue Bridge, the new Kosciuszko Bridge is expected by officials to better handle the current volume of vehicles — an estimated 200,000 per day.
"This was a legendary bottleneck. If you grew up in Queens or Brooklyn, you knew this bridge all too well," Cuomo said, adding that his father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo, commuted over the bridge from Queens to Brooklyn. "He used to time his trips around the traffic on the Kosciuszko Bridge. That was the great riddle in the commute, could you get there before the traffic or after the traffic? Because it was really terrible."
Cuomo described the metal structure as dangerous and said the steepness of the previous bridge forced trucks to slow down to handle the incline.
The span connects Maspeth and Greenpoint.
"I remember the first time I went over it on a motorcycle. Talk about holding your breath," he said.
The new roadway is about 35 feet lower and has shoulders, where disabled vehicles can pull over and be attended to without blocking traffic.
Designed as a "cable-stayed" bridge, the new Kosciuszko has 56 cables and is an estimated 1,000 feet long.
Officials brought members of the media to a location under the Brooklyn side of the bridge — the site of a future park that will be called "Under the K."
The state Department of Transportation has agreed to provide the use of state land to North Brooklyn Parks Alliance, the nonprofit leading the park’s design and construction. Cuomo announced that the state will spend $1 million to pave and prepare the site, and $6 million more for phase two of the project.
According to Lentol, whose district includes parts of Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Fort Greene, the park will provide a venue for exhibits, art work, concerts and recreation. Programming at the park is scheduled to begin next summer.
“This space is exactly what this community needs,” said Lentol. “This investment is going to have a lasting impact on our community. It's not going to be just a bridge anymore. It's going to be more than that."
Gov. Andrew Cuomo toured the new Brooklyn-bound lanes Kosciuszko Bridge Tuesday.
