The Newtown Pentacle

It remains National Creme Brulee Day, in these United States.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

We’re breaking with normal Newtown Pentacle tradition today, as there were multiple posts sent your way, devoted to the seismic events on Newtown Creek which saw the central truss of the Kosciuszcko Bridge first lowered and then carted away. This second post carries some proper shots of the lowering action. In this morning’s post, a time lapse video of the lowering of the Kosciuszcko Bridge’s central truss was offered. This afternoon’s carried everything else I shot.

Here’s the last one, showing the Kosciuszcko Bridge exiting the Newtown Creek yesterday afternoon.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

One arrived early to the Newtown Creek from “Point A” in Astoria, this time situating myself at the Newtown Creek Waste Water Treatment Plant Nature Walk. While I was waiting for the Kosciuszcko Bridge to show up, the usual maritime industrial show on the Creek was underway with a tug delivering a barge to SimsMetal. The tug cleared out, and few minutes later, the horns on the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge sounded…

– photo by Mitch Waxman

“Thar she blows” cried a humble narrator, as the truss slid into view.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

As mentioned in earlier postings, there were actually two barges with a steel superstructure carrying the thing.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The sheer scale of all of this was staggering.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

One of the tugs, pictured above, was operating in reverse. There was a second tug on the other side of the truss, and a third accompanying them. The two directly towing the barges were of the “push boat” typology.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Just as with the lowering procedure, a crowd of people had gathered to watch and photograph the operation.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The barges with the Kosciuszcko Bridge truss headed west, and the Pulaski Bridge opened up to allow them egress.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The third tug got involved when they were about to enter the draw of the Pulaski, maneuvering the assemblage into optimal position and centering it in the channel.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

So ended the seventy eight years that this structure has been on Newtown Creek.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

It was built as the New Meeker Avenue Bridge, and formally opened on August 23, 1939. A year later, in 1940, it was renamed Kosciuszcko Bridge to honor the large Polish community found in Maspeth and in Greenpoint. The barges carried the truss out onto the East River, and off to New Jersey where its steel would be harvested for recycling.

The end of an era for the Newtown Creek, and it all occurred on the 25th and 26th of July in 2017.

Documenting this project has been a long standing project of mine – this 2012 post tells you everything you could want to know about Robert Moses, Fiorella LaGuardia, and the origins of the 1939 model Kosciuszko Bridge. Just before construction started, I swept through both the Brooklyn and Queens sides of Newtown Creek in the area I call “DUKBO” – Down Under the Kosciuszko Bridge Onramp. Here’s a 2014 post, and another, showing what things used to look like on the Brooklyn side, and one dating back to 2010, and from 2012 discussing the Queens side – this. Construction started, and this 2014 post offers a look at things. There’s shots from the water of Newtown Creek, in this June 2015 post, and in this September 2015 post, which shows the bridge support towers rising. Additionally, this post from March of 2016 detailed the action on the Queens side. Most recently, here’s one from May of 2016, and one from June of the same year. Here’s one from August of 2016, the December 2016 one, one from March of 2017 which discusses the demolition of the 1939 bridge.

Most recently – a post showing what I saw during a pre opening walk through in early April of 2017, and the fanfare surrounding the opening of half of the new bridge in April of 2017, and a walk through of the Brooklyn side job site in June of 2017. Lastly, here’s some night shots from early July of 2017.

Upcoming Tours and events

The Insalubrious Valley of the Newtown Creek Walking Tour, with Newtown Creek Alliance – Saturday August 5th, 11 a.m. – 1;30 p.m.

Century old movable bridges, the remains of a 19th century highway between Brooklyn and Queens, and explore two of the lesser known tributaries of the troubled Newtown Creek watershed. For the vulgarly curious, Conrad Wissell’s Dead Animal and Night Soil wharf will be seen and described, with NCA Historian Mitch Waxman – details here.

Brooklyn Waterfront Boat Tour, with Working Harbor Committee – Saturday August 12th, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.

Explore the coastline of Brooklyn from Newtown Creek to Sunset Park, with NCA Historian Mitch Waxman, Andrew Gustafson of Turnstile Tours, and Gordon Cooper of Working Harbor Committee on the narrating about Brooklyn’s industrial past and rapidly changing present. – details here.

The Poison Cauldron of the Newtown Creek Walking Tour, with Newtown Creek Alliance – Sunday August 13th, 11 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Explore the hellish waste transfer and petroleum districts of North Brooklyn on this daring walk towards the doomed Kosciuszko Bridge, with NCA Historian Mitch Waxman – details here.

Two Newtown Creek Boat Tours, with Newtown Creek Alliance and Open House NY – Wednesday August 16th, 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.

The neighborhoods surrounding Newtown Creek are home to the densest collection of these garbage facilities anywhere in the city and collectively, the waste transfer stations around and along Newtown Creek handle almost 40% of the waste that moves through New York. Join Newtown Creek Alliance’s Mitch Waxman and Willis Elkins  to learn about the ongoing efforts to address the environmental burden that this “clustering” has caused. – details here.

“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle