Bridge of the Week Summary

George Washington Bridge, Manhattan - New Jersey

Now that I've completed my Bridge of the Week series, I wanted to give a rundown, a summary, a few thoughts, statistics and explanations.

I started this series here with the intention of writing a report about each bridge in New York City that a runner can run across, giving some interesting statistics, historical facts, information about the neighborhood, and what makes me love to run across the bridge, or not. I decided at the beginning to only write about bridges that cross natural waterways, not viaducts over railroad tracks, roadway overpasses, park bridges over man-made lakes and ponds (notably Bow Bridge in Central Park). I originally thought I'd cover only about 30-35 of the larger bridges, thinking that the smaller bridges weren't worth the time, but I'm so glad I changed my mind! I did, however, draw the line by not covering bridges that were more culverts than bridges, i.e., if there was mostly earth and greenery with a corrugated pipe or something similar for the waterway I didn't bother. And I also chose not to cover bridges with restricted access or pay-only access, such as a few bridges I was interested in on Staten Island in the Fresh Kills area that are off-limits to civilians, and a couple of bridges that are apparently in the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, since I've never been there (I know, so sue me) and I didn't feel the need to pay for the sake of this blog, especially since those who enter are probably not running inside the garden anyway. There are some exceptions to this rule, however, as you will see below. To the best of my knowledge, then, I have covered every such defined bridge in the five boroughs. And when I say covered, I don't just mean writing about it, I actually ran over each and every bridge before writing about it. That explains why it was sometimes more than a week between posts, sometimes much more than a week! And while I did pull a few pics off the internet, especially early on (some historical photos, some aerial shots), most of the pics are mine, including at least one of every bridge, and all of the pics in this post.

So without further ado, here's my summary and overview:

Meadowmere Park Footbridge, Queens

First post: Jan. 30, 2010, Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, Staten Island - Brooklyn
Last post: December 30, 2012, Manhattan Bridge, Manhattan - Brooklyn
Total number of bridges: 91
Number of bridges by borough (many bridges in two or more boroughs):
     Bronx - 33
     Queens - 28
     Brooklyn - 23
     Manhattan - 21
     Staten Island - 7
Waterways with the most bridges:
     Bronx River - 17
     Harlem River - 10 (including the Harlem River Ship Canal and Spuyten Duyvil Creek)
     Hook Creek - 8

Carroll St. Bridge, Brooklyn

Number of drawbridges: 26 (including non-active drawbridges)
Number of footbridges: 13
Bridges not currently open to pedestrians: 4
     Verrazano-Narrows Bridge (only runnable during the ING New York City Marathon)
     High Bridge (being refurbished for reopening, hopefully next year)
     Goethals Bridge (walkway closed)
     Bronx Shore Footbridge (still under construction)

Town Bridge, Staten Island

Longest bridge*: George Washington Bridge - 3,500 feet main span, 4,760 total length
     *not counting the multi-span Robert F. Kennedy Bridge or the unrunnable Verrazano-Narrows Bridge
Shortest bridge: Town Bridge, Staten Island, roughly ten feet.
Oldest bridge: Town Bridge, 1845, not the High Bridge as usually noted, opened 1848
Newest bridge (completed): Willis Avenue Bridge, October 2, 2010

Bayonne Bridge, Staten Island - New Jersey

Favorite bridge (big): George Washington Bridge
     Just a big, beautiful bridge with a rich history, has become a symbol for my neighborhood of Washington Heights, and is a link to some amazing running on the Palisades in New Jersey.
Favorite bridge (small): Carroll St. Bridge
     One of two retractile bridges in the city (along with the Borden Ave. Bridge in Queens) and one of only four in the country. Beautiful and charming.

High Bridge, Manhattan - Bronx

Favorite bridge name: Ramblersville-Hawtree Memorial Bridge, Queens
     Retaining the old neighborhood name in what is now Howard Beach and the Hawtree Creek/Basin and additional honor to those killed in World War II.
Least Favorite bridge name: Robert F. Kennedy Bridge (formerly the Triborough Bridge)
     Enough with the Kennedys already.
Most underappreciated bridge: Bayonne Bridge
     A real gem, a beautiful bridge.

Nereid Ave. Bridge, Bronx

Scariest bridge: Robert F. Kennedy Bridge - Queens leg
     At least now that reconstruction of the walkway is complete you don't need to risk your life on a shaky temporary overhang, but acrophobes will still get butterflies in their stomach when the chain link fence section ends.
Best view: Brooklyn Bridge - a classic, still the best
Wish list: Verrazano-Narrows Bridge
     I think most runners and especially cyclists would agree, and the bridge was built for the possibility of adding a bike/pedestrian path. I believe years ago Mayor Bloomberg voiced his support, in theory, but he certainly didn't put it on his priority list. As it is, the only way to get to Staten Island under your own power is via New Jersey and the Bayonne Bridge, or by kayak I suppose.

Williamsburg Bridge, Manhattan - Brooklyn

Posts with the most views (as of now):
     Williamsburg Bridge - 4,388
     Eastern Boulevard Bridge - 769 (two most-viewed posts on my blog overall)
     Bayonne Bridge - 297
     Pulaski Bridge - 294
I can't explain the reasons for this, it seems random to me, I guess somehow I got near the top of search lists.
   

Manhattan Bridge, Manhattan - Brooklyn

Main sources of information:
     www.nycroads.com
     New York City Department of Transportation: www.nyc.gov
     www.wikipedia.com
     Forgotten New York: www.forgotten-ny.com, a highly addictive site, you can easily spend hours here reading about old bridges, roads, buildings, signs, remnants of trolley tracks, you name it.
     Transportation Alternatives: www.transalt.org, has information about bike access over bridges, which can be useful information for runners as well.

Sheepshead Bay Footbridge, Brooklyn

So that's it. Thank all of you for reading, thanks to those of you who posted comments and who told me in person how you like this series. It's been a lot of fun exploring these bridges, and it's gotten me to explore many areas of the city that I wouldn't otherwise have visited. It's a big, beautiful city (in it;s own way) and I hope this inspires you to do some exploring of your own, whether running, walking, cycling, blading, unicycling, kayaking, or whatever. Cheers!

Bridge of the Week #89: Manhattan Bridge

Thank goodness, this week, just in time for the end of the year, is the final installment in the Bridge
of the Week series! We end with one of the big ones, the Manhattan Bridge. Its construction began
October 1, 1901 and it opened on December 31, 1909. The bridge was designed by Leon Moisseiff,
who also worked on the George Washington and Triborough Bridges, as well as the ill-fated Tacoma
Narrows Bridge (I’m sure you’ve all seen the video). It joins Canal St. in Manhattan at the Bowery with
the Flatbush Ave. extension in Brooklyn at Tillary St. across the East River. It is a suspension bridge with
a main span of 1,480 feet and a total length of 6,855 feet. It is a two-level bridge carrying seven lanes of
traffic – four on top and three on bottom, and four subway tracks which carry the B, D, Q and N trains
(and sometimes R). The height of the towers is 336 feet, and clearance above the East River is 135 feet.

A dedicated pedestrian walkway is on the south side of the bridge, and a dedicated bike lane on the
north side. Construction in recent years has caused temporary closure of the bike lane, but as of now I
believe both are open. The walkway is accessible from the Bowery’s southern approach in Manhattan,
although pedestrian crossings do exist across Canal St. and the Bowery. In Brooklyn, the walkway and
bikeway must be accessed from the intersection of Jay St. and Sands St., directly underneath the bridge.

The Manhattan Bridge is heavily traveled by walkers, runners and cyclists for both recreation and
functional transportation, but the pathways never feel crowded. It is an excellent and enjoyable run, in
no small part due to its proximity to the Brooklyn Bridge to the south, of which runners get a beautiful
view. Many runners make a loop of both bridges, some also including the Williamsburg Bridge to the
north as a fun series of river crossings. The Brooklyn ends of the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges are
very close together, just a short distance along Tillary St. for the Brooklyn Bridge’s long entrance or
Prospect St. for the shorter stair entrance.

On the Manhattan side of the bridge, both the Bowery and Canal St. are very congested areas with both
vehicular and pedestrian traffic, being in the heart of Chinatown. That could make for slow or stressful
running, but back when I would regularly run across the bridge home to Brooklyn from work, I came to
love the obstacle course running down the Bowery at rush hour!

In Brooklyn, the bridge has actually given its name to one of the city’s more recently-trendy
neighborhoods with a cute acronym name – Dumbo, which stands for Down Under the Manhattan
Bridge Overpass. Despite the hype, the area, along with the area under the Brooklyn Bridge, is a very
nice area with old historic buildings converted to art spaces, independent stores and restaurants, and
the new addition of Brooklyn Bridge Park right on the water’s edge. The bridge is also a short distance
from Brooklyn’s civic center and downtown, and you can continue up Flatbush Ave. to the Barclay’s
Center, and Prospect Park after just a couple of miles.

The Manhattan entrance features a monumental arch and colonnade that was built from 1910-1915,
designed by the architectural firm of Carrere and Hastings, and includes a frieze by Charles Rumsey
called “The Buffalo Hunt.”

That’s an overview of the Manhattan Bridge. And that about does it. I will follow up with an overview,
summary, thoughts and reflections on the bridge series. Till then, thanks for reading, and have a happy
2013!

2012 Ultrarunner of the Year

Every year UltraRunning Magazine comes up with a list of ultrarunner of the year (male and female) as well as performances of the year. I don't know who votes for it - probably nobody who reads my blog - but since other ultrarunning bloggers like to come up with their lists, here's my attempt to influence voters to prevent injustices similar to those of the past. So here is my detailed list of 2012's ultrarunner of the year.

Male:
1. Mike Morton
2. Everyone else

Female:
1. Connie Gardner
2. Everyone else

Performance of the year - male:
1. Mike Morton's 24-hour world championship (American record)
2. Everything else

Performance of the year - female:
1. Connie Gardner's 24-hour world championship (American record)
2. Everything else
(with special mention of Sabrina (Moran) Little's 24-hour North Coast and Amy Sproston's 100K world championship)
Of course, everyone's entitled to their opinion, but if your opinion is not the same as that above, you must have rocks for brains. Not that there aren't a LOT of awesome runners and performances in the "everyone else" category, but none that compare with Mike and Connie. Seriously, if these aren't unanimous choices, there is something very wrong with the system, which we know there is anyway.

Looking back over the last few years, it's becoming more and more clear that the best ultrarunning in the US these days is taking place on the roads, and the track. Since the beginning of 2010, 7 American records have been broken (Josh Cox - 50K, twice; Scott Jurek - 24 Hours, Mike Morton - 24 Hours, Sabrina Moran - 24 Hours, Connie Gardner - 24 Hours, me - 48 Hours) and several other close calls, the recent performances of the US 24-hour and 100K teams, one age-group world record (Jay Aldous - 50+, 100 miles), a dozen male 24-hour performances over 150 miles, and at least 10 women's performances over 135 miles, and we just had two sub-13 hour 100 mile performances. The quality and depth of quality is outstanding. The roads, and track, are where it's at, baby!

Race Report: Desert Solstice 24 Hour/100 Mile Run

Phoenix doesn't like me. I just have to come to terms with that. Two years ago I ran the 48 hour race at Across the Years, and although I missed the typhoon of the first night of the 3-day running festival, during my first night the temperatures in the 20's and my strained achilles made me drop out after about 24 hours.

Despite vowing never again to run a winter 24 or 48 hour race, I signed up for the 2012 Desert Solstice 24 Hour Run (which also has a 100-mile option) for a few reasons. 1. The Coury brothers of Aravaipa Running always put on top-notch events with the runners' needs and desires as top priority (as I experienced at Across The Years). 2. I was looking forward to running a 24-hour race on a track. 3. Most importantly, I was trying to qualify for the 2013 US team to the 24 hour world championships in the Netherlands, having run poorly at the 2012 championships in Poland. Besides, I figured what would the chances be of bad weather again? The weather forecast for race day looked good, with light rain in the morning and good temps.

I came into the race feeling undertrained, without a race plan, and with a slight pain in my lower back that I got from lifting heavy boxes the wrong way. The pain had mostly gone away in the days before the race, and I arrogantly assumed that if I ran a smart and not-too-ambitious race I should have no problem running 150 miles and qualifying for the team.

There was a limit of 20 runners on the track at the start, a few of whom were shooting for a good 100-mile time, including Ian Sharmin, Jon Olsen, Dave James and Mike Arnstein. I had many friends in the 24-hour race, including US teammates Connie Gardner, Deb Horn, Carilyn Johnson, Joe Fejes and Mike Henze. All on the track were experienced runners and a pleasure to share time with.

Shortly after the start I felt twinges of pain in my back. I pushed the pace a little, more than I expected to, in an attempt to bank distance in case I crashed later on. Ian and Dave took off like a flash, with Jon not far behind. Mike Arnstein started fast, but relatively conservatively by design, in an attempt to negative-split the 100. Dave Carver also had a fast start, going after a Canadian age-group 50-mile record.

Shortly after the start of the race also it started to drizzle. Then the drizzle turned to light rain, which became occasional downpours. Naturally, it hadn't rained in Phoenix in months, I was told. The temperature I don’t think ever got out of the 40’s. I also had a bad sign when runners I would pass said they knew by the sound of my feet that I was coming. My feet aren’t supposed to make any sound, but I was scraping the surface of the track. I couldn’t get my legs to lift my feet properly. After about 4 ½ hours the pain in my back forced me to longer walking breaks and attempts at self-massage. The walking in combination with the rain meant chills. I added clothes but soon those layers were soaked through as well. Mike A. gave me a heating pad to put on my back, but I couldn’t feel it at all. However, after a long rough patch I tried something close to a race-walking pace, which led finally to proper form and the pain in my back subsiding enough that I could run 10-minute miles.

I had hoped to hit 50 miles in seven hours, but I felt it no small victory to have reached that distance this day in eight hours, and I thought I still had a chance at 140 miles. But sure enough, the pain comes back, the rain keeps pouring and the chill gets deeper. The Courys had put up a long tent under which were tables where runners could keep their stuff, with room for crews. I was being helped by Mike Henze’s wife Jill and Carilyn Johnson’s husband Tim and sons Spencer and Grant. (Sidebar – I can’t say enough positive things about this family, I can’t even begin to say what great people they all are!) I sat down under the tent to try to find some dry clothes and regroup but my first lap out again brought on hypothermia. The hot and plentiful food at the aid station didn’t help enough, and I vowed that I wouldn't go back out as long as it was raining. Although I’d be able to walk and jog the rest of the way, it was still only 9 ½ hours into the race and I knew I wouldn’t get a good total, not enough to qualify for the team, and with no desire to do further damage to my back, my race was over after just 58 miles.

As for others’ races, the big news was Jon Olsen and Mike Arnstein both running 100 miles in under 13 hours! Jon ran 12:29, missing the American 100-mile track record by just two minutes, and Mike ran his negative splits, including a sub-3-hour final marathon to finish in 12:57. Mike had been aiming for a sub-13 100 for a long time, so I’m very happy he achieved that major career goal! Dave James had to stop fairly early, and Ian Sharmin got hypothermia and stopped after 70 miles. Pam Smith won the women’s 100 in 15:01, the 2^nd-best American ever on the track, behind only the legendary Ann Trason. Jay Smithberger also had a great time of 13:49.

Joe Fejes, my roommate in Poland, won the 24 hour race with 156 miles, making him one more person to beat my PR! Nick Coury got 2^nd with 139. Connie Gardner won the women’s race with 132, and Deb Horn close behind with just under 131. Deb never ceases to impress me with her strength and consistency. Joe and Connie already had qualifying performance for next year’s team, but Nick and Deb made the list of top six qualifiers (so far) with their runs. I was sorry to see Carilyn pull out, as well as Mike Henze.

As for me, my streak of being on the US team every year since 2007 will come to an end. But I’ll be back! Big thanks to Mike Arnstein, Mike and Jill Henze, the Johnson family, and especially the Coury family who all helped put on a world-class event. But with my record in Phoenix, please forgive me if I don’t return.

Bridge of the Week #88: Jewel Ave. Bridge

On the bridge, looking west along Jewel Ave.

Looking north at the Flushing River and the ramp from the park

Looking south at Flushing River, Willow Lake, and the onramp to the Van Wyck

This week's bridge is the Jewel Ave. Bridge across the Flushing River on the edge of Flushing meadows Corona Park in Queens. It's one of those bridges you might cross without even knowing it. This is right at the point that Jewel Ave. meets an onramp/offramp for the Van Wyck Expressway, then crosses the Van Wyck, just west of the intersection with Park Drive East. The river here is at the spot between Meadow Lake and Willow Lake. Nothing of much interest with the bridge itself, a standard utilitarian concrete bridge. For runners, it's a way to get to Flushing Meadows from the neighborhoods to the east, in the 60-70 avenues. There are sidewalks on both sides, but it's kind of a crazy traffic area, so be careful, even with the pedestrian signals and crosswalks. One note: the onramp and offramp in the pictures above don't have sidewalks, so those bridges will not be covered in this series.

Cancelling the ING New York City Marathon

When the New York Road Runners and the city first announced immediately after hurricane Sandy that the ING New York City Marathon would take place as scheduled, I was pleased, and my main concern was for the logistics of transporting runners to the start. The marathon is a fantastic event, a great celebration of life, and marathon runners are tough people who can take anything thrown at them and overcome.

But yesterday it suddenly hit me that there's no way that this race should be taking place this weekend. I apologize to those who have signed up (I'm not signed up this year), but it's become clear that the marathon should be canceled. I think it hit me when I saw news reports of residents of Rockaway Beach and Staten Island desperate for food, water and other basic necessities who were only just receiving their first deliveries from the Red Cross. If not that, then it hit me Thursday when they found the bodies of two small boys in a marshy area just a few miles from the start area, after being ripped from their mother's arms during the storm by the rushing waters on Monday night.

There are many in the general public who don't understand the significance of the marathon, those who think it trivial, which of course, I do not. Nevertheless, it's my feeling that the marathon is going forward for the wrong reasons. I believe that the marathon has become, in a way, too big to fail, or at least too big to be canceled. Mary Wittenberg has truly put all her eggs and NYRR's eggs in this basket, cancellation would be too devastating for NYRR, and I believe she's convinced Mayor Bloomberg to go along. And that's the problem - the marathon has gotten too big - way, way too big.

The Mayor and others have stated that the race represents the resiliency and toughness of New Yorkers, but that just doesn't fly. It's true that individually, the runners are extremely tough and resilient and ready to go. I have runner friends who are still without power and are ready at this moment to go out and run a marathon, or a 50-mile or a 100-mile race, which is absolutely awesome!  I ran the marathon in 2001, two months after the terrorist attacks that killed thousands.  People were still grieving, many were still unaccounted for, and I believe "The Pile" was still on fire, but we'd had time to absorb the shock of what happened, the city had recovered basic functions, and we were rebounding. Furthermore, the attitude during the race was not just resiliency, but a victory run, an act of defiance to a corporeal enemy on the other side of the globe. (I might add that there were about 21,000 runners that year, a few thousand less than the average field around that time, and less than half the number of runners signed up this year.)

Currently, we're still in crisis mode.  Much of Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens, not to mention New Jersey and Connecticut, will still be out of power for more than a week. People still haven't had a chance to bury their loved ones, or to figure out where they're going to be living for the coming months or how they're going to be able to earn a living, or to pull cars out of their living rooms or boats out of their yards.  Regardless of whether the Staten Island Ferry will be operating on Sunday morning, regardless of whether NYRR will be able to bus tens of thousands of people through darkened, battered neighborhoods to Fort Wadsworth, regardless of whether it's city funds or private funds providing water, Gatorade, security, medical supplies and personnel along a 26-mile stretch of the city, holding the race just six days after the hurricane hit is extremely insensitive to those still in deep suffering. There will be truckloads of bottled water, bagels, coffee, power bars and other supplies brought to Fort Wadsworth, not to mention generators, while just steps away are people who are truly desperate for just those very items, and have been since Monday.  Let us show our resiliency after we've shown our compassion. Let us have our victory run after we have earned the victory.

If cancellation would be too devastating for NYRR or for the ING New York City Marathon, then they only have themselves to blame. No race should be too big to fail. Many of you know I'm a devoted ultrarunner, and the biggest races in ultrarunning have had to be cancelled - Western States a few years back due to forest fires, Ultra Trail de Mont Blanc once cancelled and once shortened due to rough weather - and they've survived, even though runners had spent large amounts of money and traveled from all over the world. The runners understand. The Chicago Marathon was stopped a few years ago due to heat while many were still running, and the race survived. Those who have traveled here or are on their way can still come here and enjoy the city, or at least the parts of the city that are open. They will understand. Those who have pledged money to charity runners would have to be heartless to take back their pledges - I think they will understand. The athletes will understand, anyone with a capacity to understand may be disappointed, but they will understand.

My statements here I suppose are just foolish posturing, since I make no decisions for anyone but myself, I have no power. And I'm not calling for anyone to boycott the marathon, and I don't mean to dampen anyone's enthusiasm. I take that back, I do mean to dampen enthusiasm. The usual enthusiasm, excitement and downright giddyness at the start and along the course of the marathon is simply inappropriate this year. Those of you who are running, please consider the suffering taking place just a short distance from where your race starts. Remember as you pass near the Barclay's Center that just a few days earlier there were lines of thousands of people waiting for a bus to get to work. Above all, remember that the marathon is a great statement of humanity, and that regardless of what the NYRR decides or the city decides, do not, as an individual, lose that humanity.

Bridge of the Week #82-87: Brookville Park Footbridges, 147th Ave. Bridge

They're back! After a much-too-long absence, back to the bridges of New York City. A reminder for those who are new, I'm covering all the bridges of New York City that can be run (or walked) across, and have traveled to every corner of every borough to visit the bridges personally and cross them and take pictures, to help runners enhance their running experience in this city. I've done 81 up to now, which is most of them, certainly most of the major bridges, but I've got a few left, so here we go.

147th Ave. Bridge

Bridge #1

 The main reason for the delay in this series is that I haven't had a chance to get out to Rosedale, Queens to visit Brookville Park until very recently. This is a very nice park that runs between 147th Ave. and S. Conduit Blvd., and between 232nd St. and Brookville Blvd., following Hook Creek. It's not far to the north-northeast from JFK Airport. There are five footbridges in the park that cross Hook Creek, as well as a vehicular bridge on 147th Ave. that I've included here as well even though it doesn't have a sidewalk, and even though the southermost footbridge in the park is only a few yards to the north, because it can be run or walked across. The footbridges are shown below, from south to north.

Conselyeas Pond in Brookville Park

Hook Creek is a small stream for the most part, but in the park, it does widen into a nice pond, Conselyeas Pond. The footbridges are small and cross the narrow stream. I don't have any specs on them, and don't know when they were built, sorry.

Bridge #2

 Like I said, this is a very nice park, and a nice spot for an easy run. But at only about a half mile long, not much of a place for a long run (although a good potential spot for a short-loop ultra!). It's surrounded by a nice residential neighborhood, and JFK Airport to the south, not a lot of great running spots nearby, unless you want to run the length of Rockaway Blvd. out to (or from) Meadowmere and Five Towns. And there are no subways anywhere near, although the Rosedale station for the Long Island Railroad is just to the north of the park.

Bridge #3

 This is another case that brings up the question, what is a bridge that I cover in this blog? I decided that park footbridges would only be covered if they crossed a legitimate waterway, and small as Hook Creek is here, it qualifies. But just to the north, as the creek flows under S. Conduit Blvd., Sunrise Highway, N. Conduit Blvd., and Francis Lewis Blvd, and on to the north (or from the north rather) alongside the Laurelton Parkway it is routed under through man-made channels rather than crossed by bridges, and becomes a much less significant waterway, and I don't think I'll be covering those farther north crossings. I figure if there's a good amount of earth and plants and trees on it, it's not a bridge for the purposes of this blog. I might change my mind later, I've done that often enough already, but the 147th Ave. Bridge and these five footbridges are the end of the line for Hook Creek I believe.

Bridge #4

 Not too many bridges left! Stay tuned, more to come.

Bridge #5

Hook Creek

Under S. Conduit Blvd.