Posts Tagged ‘DUKBO’
sounds heard
It’s apparently National Soft Taco Day, in these United States.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Unusual is a Sunday evening post at your Newtown Pentacle, but I wanted to get that piece of Kosciuszcko Bridge demolition video live – asap. Above is a panorama image of the scene as witnessed from about .6 of a mile eastwards of the span at the Maspeth Avenue Plank Road just as the smoke began to clear. I’ve been a busy bee for the last 48 hours, developing shots of the event. I also had to conduct a Newtown Creek tour for a class from the University of Toronto in the afternoon, which was a combination of a walking tour and a boat tour (via the North Brooklyn Boat Club).
The shots in today’s post were captured in the late afternoon of Sunday, October 1st from the waters of the fabulous Newtown Creek, and it’s the scene you’ll observe in DUKBO – Down Under the Kosciuszcko Bridge Onramp.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
North Brooklyn Boat Club is based alongside the Pulaski Bridge (which about 1.5 miles west of the Kosciuszcko Bridge) in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint section. The NBBC has two large canoes which can make bringing small groups of people out onto Newtown Creek possible. After a brief instruction about safety and how to handle the crafts, we all donned life vests and turned the marine radio’s switch to “on” and got onboard.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The scene in DUKBO is otherworldly, with the highway having settled into neat slabs along the still extant concrete piers of the 1939 Kosciuszcko Bridge.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This is the Brooklyn side.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The steel piers are still standing, and will no doubt be disassembled via conventional demolition techniques.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Looking westwards, along the bulkheads of the National Grid properties at Greenpoint’s border with Bushwick (or East Williamsburg if you must).
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the Queens side, in the shot above.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This closeup is looking northwards, along the Blissville section of Long Island City’s border with Maspeth, towards Sunnyside. For reference, this used to be the NYPD tow yard.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As early as Sunday afternoon, there were already wielders with torches (and other labor going on as well) cutting into the rubble. This giant piece of steel truss, as far as I could discern from my vantage, was laying across the Lower Montauk Tracks of the LIRR.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I imagine getting the right of way clear as quickly as possible is a major priority.
As a note, the students from the University of Toronto we were guiding around had seemingly lost the ability to speak at this point and had become lost in the terrible majesties of the lugubrious Newtown Creek.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As you’re reading this, I’m heading over to the Newtown Creek to go see what’s going on, and I’ll update you as things progress at the Kosciuszcko Bridge site at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
Upcoming Tours and event
Exploring Long Island City, from Luxury Waterfront to Abandoned Factories Walking Tour,
with NY Adventure Club – Saturday, October 7th, 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.
Long Island City is a tale of two cities; one filled with glittering water-front skyscrapers and manicured parks, and the other, a highly active ground transportation & distribution zone vital to the New York economy — which will prevail? With Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman – details here.
The Hidden Harbors Of Staten Island Boat Tour,
with Working Harbor Committee – Sunday, October 15th, 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.
A very cool boat tour that visits two of the maritime industrial waterways of New York Harbor which adjoin Staten Island and Bayonne in New Jersey – The Kill Van Kull and the Arthur Kill. There will be lots of tugboats, cargo docks, and you’ll get to see multiple bridges from the water – including the brand new Goethals Bridge. I’ll be on the mike, narrating with WHC board member Gordon Cooper – details here.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
keen wonder
It’s National Coffee Day, in these United States.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
All the “intel” coming my way indicates that this Sunday morning (Oct. 1), the remaining sections of the Koscisuzcko Bridge will be “energetically demolished” or – to quote Governor Cuomo – “blown up.” The self same intel indicates that 8 a.m. is the target time, but it’s possible that the schedule might shift around a bit depending on circumstance.
I’m recommending that if you want to watch the bridge go boom, you’d either want to be on the Grand Street Bridge looking west, or on the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge looking east. I’m also recommending that if you’ve got a respirator mask, you might want to bring it along, as I’m sure this will kick up a lot of dust when it comes down.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Scouting out the “exclusion area” which all but FDNY, NYPD, NYS DOT, and their contractors will be forbidden to enter, I took note of where the NYPD had dropped off piles of police barriers for road closure. The cordon is a bit larger than I was originally told, and there is a giant chunk of Newtown Creek and the surrounding neighborhood which will be off limits. I’ve got a different spot to shoot from, but that’s me.
As mentioned above, I’d say the Grand Street or Greenpoint Avenue Bridges would be good – and fairly safe – choices for viewing and or photographing the event. I’m told it’s all going to happen in 8 milliseconds, from detonation to drop.
Grand Street has its charms, looking west at the new bridge with the old one behind it. Morning sun will be lighting the scene, and the Manhattan skyline is visible from there. You’ll see the old bridge directly, from Greenpoint Avenue, but it will be shadowed with the sun behind it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m sure this will be an enjoyable traffic morning for you drivers, with definite closure for BQE in the morning and a likely closure for the LIE for some interval. There will be mutiple road closures in Greenpoint and West Maspeth as well, which will likely last for awhile as they scoop up all the blown steel and concrete.
The end of an era, lords and ladies…
Upcoming Tours and event
Exploring Long Island City, from Luxury Waterfront to Abandoned Factories Walking Tour,
with NY Adventure Club – Saturday, October 7th, 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.
Long Island City is a tale of two cities; one filled with glittering water-front skyscrapers and manicured parks, and the other, a highly active ground transportation & distribution zone vital to the New York economy — which will prevail? With Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman – details here.
The Hidden Harbors Of Staten Island Boat Tour,
with Working Harbor Committee – Sunday, October 15th, 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.
A very cool boat tour that visits two of the maritime industrial waterways of New York Harbor which adjoin Staten Island and Bayonne in New Jersey – The Kill Van Kull and the Arthur Kill. There will be lots of tugboats, cargo docks, and you’ll get to see multiple bridges from the water – including the brand new Goethals Bridge. I’ll be on the mike, narrating with WHC board member Gordon Cooper – details here.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
sweating brow
It’s National Welsh Rarebit Day, in these United States.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A humble narrator is indulging in a bit of down time this week, and single images will be greeting you from now until Labor Day on September 4th.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
spittle flecked
It’s National Banana Split Day, in these United States.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just a single shot today, depicting the Penny Bridge area of my beloved Newtown Creek and looking westwards across Greenpoint towards Manhattan. I’ll be conducting a walking tour of Dutch Kills in LIC tomorrow, link and details below, if you’d like to come along. Looks like it’s going to be a beautiful day to take a short walk along a long creek.
Upcoming Tours and events
America’s Workshop Newtown Creek Walking Tour, with Atlas Obscura – Saturday August 26th, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Explore the Dutch Kills tributary of Newtown Creek in Long Island City, with NCA Historian Mitch Waxman – details here.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
eleventh hour
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
The Newtown Pentacle 