Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge

In December 2010, the city announced that Queensboro Bridge would be renamed in honor of former Mayor Ed Koch. The Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, also known as the 59th Street Bridge – because its Manhattan end is located between 59th and 60th Streets – or simply the Queensboro Bridge, is a cantilever bridge over the East River. It was completed in 1909. It connects the neighborhood of Long Island City, Queens with Manhattan, passing over Roosevelt Island where I made the images above. 

Moon Over Queensboro Bridge

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote about the QUEENSBORO BRIDGE in “The Great Gatsby,” and Simon and Garfunkel wrote a song about it. This bridge, also known as the 59th Street Bridge, is close to where I live on Manhattan's Upper Eastside. I made this image last Thursday night after a short run along the East River. The bridge recently celebrated its 100th birthday.

Author Bob Singleton - “It’s really the quintessential American bridge. You get a massive feeling of the use of steel that went into that bridge. It’s a graceful bridge when you take a look at what they tried to accomplish, and it’s an iconic symbol of the city. It’s been in movies from ‘Dead End’ in the ’30s to ‘Spider-Man.’ But it’s very unassuming as it goes about its work.”

Simon and Garfunkel wrote a song about it. They called it by its Manhattan-centric name, “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy),” and included the line “Hello, lamppost.” “Hello, darkness, my old friend,” from their hit single “The Sounds of Silence,” it is not.