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Sunday, September 18. 2016

Had occasion to cross the Tappan Zee Bridge yesterday. Seeing the progress of the new bridge, adjacent to the old, is a thrill. Once in a while a government does something worthy. My only regret is that the bridge does not have rail. It should. I think there is not a single rail bridge over the southern Hudson River, which is odd and unfortunate.

Posted by Bird Dog in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 05:24 | Comments (11) | Trackbacks (0)

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Further proof that "good politics, does not guarantee good design"! Not putting in rail because it has not been done before is bad design--

#1 faculty wife on 2016-09-18 12:06 (Reply)

Is that possibly because the tracks in that area run at the river level instead of the elevation of the bridge which needs to provide clearance for rather large ocean going freighters ?

#2 Former NY/NJ Guy on 2016-09-18 12:08 (Reply)

No, that's not why.

Ideally, a rail line from Jersey would connect to one of the other northeast north-south lines - probably the tracks that Metro North shoreline route uses.

#2.1 Bird Dog on 2016-09-18 13:23 (Reply)

My dad worked on the existing TZ and always said if people knew how many beer cans were in those footers no one would drive over it

#3 Joey on 2016-09-18 13:47 (Reply)

Rail? Why? Perhaps we should only pursue infrastructure which pays for itself, since most rail in the US is private, and must pay for itself, it would seem likely that rail here would not. Adding rail would be a serious economic waste in that case.

But economic waste never stopped a progressive. Just look to Amtrak to see the pinnacle of economic waste. Private rail will place rail where it makes sense. Public rail will waste money putting rail where it is economically foolish.

Which do you prefer?

Mark Sherman

#4 Maddog (Link) on 2016-09-18 14:18 (Reply)

talking about private rail. Freight line.

but no rr line could build a Hudson River bridge. Never could, never did. It would reduce truck traffic enormously.

#4.1 Bird Dog on 2016-09-18 15:23 (Reply)

There a rail bridge near Albany next to the Rte 90 /NY Thuway bridge. A few years ago you could see locomotives on the old D an H colors. Don't know if it is still in use.

#5 Tomas on 2016-09-18 15:28 (Reply)

I cycle past the TZ bridge regularly riding up to Nyack from Teaneck.

While speaking with flagmen/flagwomen on River Road where the bridge overpass is located just south of Nyack I was told that if there is money in the future there are provisions to easily add a rail line.

My expectation is that most people will prefer their cars and that mass transit will relegated to buses which much more flexible.

#6 Cycle Cyril on 2016-09-18 18:11 (Reply)

Counted 4 rail bridges on the Hudson scrolling through maps.google.com. First is next to the Castleton Bridge carrying Rt 912M. But, really, there's not a real need for a freight bridge further south. There's a N-S rail line on both sides of the Hudson that handle mostly freight traffic with some passenger. The rail bridge through Albany probably catches most of the E-W rail traffic. The Poughkeepsie rail bridge was abandoned for rail traffic and turned into a pedestrian-bikeway bridge.

There are 3 tunnel sets to NYC that handle passenger rail. Most containerized fright coming to the NY/NJ area gets off loaded in NJ, and onto rail. There's no real economic need for a another rail bridge, or there would be one. There are no large scale RR yards in NYC, and no place to put one.

#7 gospace on 2016-09-18 19:25 (Reply)

There was a railroad bridge across the Hudson River at Poughkeepsie. It hosted trains from 1889 to 1974. In its heyday the bridge was the freight connection to the south and west for an independent New Haven RR. Successor Penn Central favored routes via its Boston & Albany tracks (ex-New York Central) into New England.

A fire on May 8, 1974 destroyed some of the wooden superstructure (crossties, etc.) and cast doubt on the integrity of adjacent iron and steel beams. Repair was not a priority for Penn Central, deep into bankruptcy. The Boston & Albany was believed to be an adequate replacement for the remaining traffic headed to and from New England over the Poughkeepsie Bridge. [The B&A is the line Tomas saw next to I-90].

After three decades as a derelict, the structure was re-built, becoming the "Walkway Over The Hudson State Historic Park".

#8 DanaK on 2016-09-18 21:21 (Reply)

I heard they were thinking about keeping what will soon be the "old bridge" and turning it into a pedestrian walkway/park. Does anyone know the status of that?

#9 bk on 2016-09-19 07:23 (Reply)

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Sunday, September 18. 2016

Bridge