Written by Jaden Parker

I will be honest. I love bridges. It’s odd but true. I love that they connect land that would have never been connected due to water being a barrier unless you had a boat or ferry. Driving over water is something I enjoy, no matter how big or small the bridge may be. With that being said, it was a no-brainer when I searched for things I wanted to see in New York for this series. I definitely had to see one of the, if not the, longest cantilever bridge in the US.

Constructed in 1909, the Queensboro Bridge in New York was the longest cantilever bridge in the world for years until the Quebec Bridge was built in 1917. So what is a cantilever bridge? A cantilever is any sort of structure that is only anchored at one end, sort of like a diving board! The other part supports the bridge by extending straight across horizontally. Most of these bridges have only three spans, but the Queensboro has five spans! Plenty of people also take use of the bike and pedestrian lanes along the side. If you go from one end to the other and back again, that’s almost 1.5 miles! What a cardio workout (that I will never do)!

Also called the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge after the former NYC mayor, this bridge has two levels. I got a really cool photo right under the one level that shows you how far across it goes.

It needed 75,000 tons of steel to build it in its entirety, and the piers are rooted in Roosevelt Island. Also, it is the only bridge of the four great East River Bridges that isn’t a suspension bridge—a bridge that goes straight across with suspension cables holding it up like San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.

My Uber driver took me all over the bridge in various directions and assisted me in taking photos, so shout out to him!

Featured photo is of a NYC skyline