Bridge of the Week #54: Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge

This week's bridge is the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge that joins Broad Channel and the Rockaways in Queens.

The bridge is 3,000 feet long with a main span of 275 feet. It is a fixed bridge with a maximum height above the water of 55 feet. Construction began in 1967 and it was opened on May 28, 1970. The roadway on the bridge is Cross Bay Boulevard, which comes from Howard Beach, Queens across the Congressman Joseph P. Addabbo Bridge (previously covered) to Rulers Bar Hassock, including the Broad Channel neighborhood in Jamaica Bay, where the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge takes it to the Rockaways. This bridge replaces a bascule drawbridge built in 1939. The lifting of the bridge caused bad traffic backups, so the fixed bridge was constructed.

There is one sidewalk on the east side of the bridge, not very wide, and bikes are supposed to be walked across. The south entrance to the bridge is at Beach 92 St. and Beach Channel Drive, and the north entrance is pretty tough to find from the Broad Channel neighborhood. From E. 21st Road, take Van Brunt Rd. to its end, and the path entrance is around the dumpsters of a restaurant, and is very poorly marked. Still, the bridge can be part of a good long loop around the Rockaways and the Belt Parkway which can give you a lot of miles of nearly traffic-free, waterfront and bridge running.