Queenswalk: The Kosciuszko Bridge

I bet you didn’t know there are two Kosciuszko Bridges. One spans the Mohawk River north of Albany, on Interstate 87, A.K.A. the Northway, connecting Colonie in Albany County to Halfmoon in Saratoga Colony. It’s a double bridge, with three lanes of northbound traffic on one bridge, and three lanes of southbound traffic on the other. Traffic generally sails over the bridge, while affording a beautiful view of the Mohawk River and the Erie Canal.

In 2013, workers replaced the decks on both sides of the bridges. They closed one bridge while they were working on it, forcing both north and southbound traffic across the remaining span. The lines of traffic were backed up for miles, and it could take half an hour or more to get over the bridge. It was like being on New York’s Kosciuszko Bridge. Well, to be honest, it was still better than being on the other Kosciusko Bridge.

Somewhere, wherever Tadeusz Kosciuszko is today, looking down on the bridge across the Newtown Creek that bears his name, he must be thinking, “Why me? Why did they have to name the worst commuter bridge in the world after me? Plus, there is hardly a New Yorker who can decently pronounce my name. After all I did for this country, too. Thanks a lot.” So who was this guy anyway?

Find out after the jump.

Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kosciuszko, (pronounced ka-SHUSH-ko) was a Polish military officer and engineer. Today he’s a national hero in Poland, Belarus, Lithuania and the United States. Not many historical figures can say that. He lived from 1746-1817. He was born in what is now Belarus, but was at the time the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He received a military education at the Corp of Cadets in Warsaw, and then moved to France where he took more courses in military history and engineering. When he returned, his brother had squandered the family fortune, and he was forced to get a job as a tutor for the household of a local wealthy governor.

He made the mistake of falling in love with his boss’s daughter, and when they tried to elope, he was caught and severely beaten up. Had this not happened, he might not have ever gone back to France, where he met and befriended the dashing and charismatic Marquis de Lafayette. The two men shared a love of liberty, democracy and adventure, and decided to sail to America to help that nation get its independence from Britain. The American Revolution had already started, and it wasn’t looking good.

Long story short, Kosciuszko proved to be an invaluable resource for the Continental Army. He was smart and inventive, and his background in military engineering would help win the day on several fronts. He is credited for the fortifications of West Point, the plans of which Benedict Arnold was going to give the British. During several battles, both upstate in New York, and down south in the Carolinas, his knowledge of fortifications and the best place to stand one’s ground and take control of the battle site caused the British much harm, and won several battles that turned the tide of war.

He received much praise and was inducted into the Society of the Cincinnati, an American Revolutionary War lineage society. He wore the medal given to him with pride, and can be seen in most of the portraits of him. But the new nation had no money, and took years to pay all the money they owed him for military pay. He was deeply concerned about slavery in the new nation, and worked in Philadelphia for the eradication of slavery and education for black people. He eventually went back to Poland, leaving a will with his good friend Thomas Jefferson that was supposed to have his assets go to the freedom, education and aid of black Americans. Jefferson was old when his friend died in 1817, and for a lot of reasons, this never happened.

Meanwhile, in 1791, once more in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, his military prowess and reputation secured him a commission as Major-General, a well-paying position. Throughout all of his work for Polish independence, he was always firmly on the side of the peasants, Jews and other marginalized populations in his country. He wanted them included in any new nation, as equal citizens. He really believed the ideals of freedom and democracy. As can be imagined, that did not go over well with most of the aristocracy, and they asked Russia to help them put the Commonwealth down. It began the Polish-Russian War of 1792.

Kosciuszko was a great hero of that war, and of a subsequent uprising, also named after him. But after it was all done, he had failed, and Poland would not be independent again for centuries. He had a bounty on his head by the Russians, who wanted him dead or alive. That was eventually rescinded and he received a pardon. He left Poland, went back to France, back to Philadelphia, and then back to France. Napoleon and the Russian Tsar were still partitioning Poland, and wanted Kosciuszko’s support, which he absolutely refused to give.

He moved to Switzerland, and died there at the age of 71, in 1817. His body was returned to Poland, where he was buried with much pomp. His heart was removed, along with other internal organs when he was embalmed, and today, the urn containing his heart is in the Royal Castle at Warsaw. His body is buried at St. Florian’s Church in Krakow. Kosciuszko was an incredibly inspiring figure, and has been claimed as a national hero by several countries, including ours, where he was made a citizen. We’ve named schools, streets, parks and bridges in his honor. In the case of the bridge over Newtown Creek, it’s a dubious honor, indeed.

The bridge was built in 1939, part of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway created by Robert Moses to join the boroughs with an elevated highway system that would enable cars and trucks to sail over the streets below. Moses could be a visionary, but he had no idea how many vehicles would be making that journey at all hours of the day and night. Incidentally, there is a Polish eagle on a plaque above one side of the bridge, and an American eagle on the other. Both can be seen while you are inching along the span.

The bridge itself is a truss bridge, one of the simplest kind of bridges, engineering-wise. It consists of triangular elements that balance and distribute the stresses and pressures across the span. This bridge is the only bridge across Newtown Creek that is not a drawbridge. Consequently, in order to accommodate taller vessels on the water, the bridge arches up steeply to give them headroom. That’s part of the problem with it today. The bridge also has narrow lanes and no shoulders, creating a bottleneck by its very design.

As anyone who has ever had to use it knows, the bridge is in terrible shape. It’s the poster child for delayed and deferred maintenance. Most of the bridge’s lanes on both sides are worn to the underlay, with the concrete and steel substructure visible everywhere. This winter, which was especially long and rough, the potholes were especially huge and everywhere. You couldn’t escape them, and you certainly couldn’t drive faster than 20 mph over them, or you’d leave your muffler, axel and undercarriage behind.

This forces people to drive even slower across the bridge, making a long trip between Brooklyn and Queens into an eternal commute. The cemeteries below looked like the next resting place, and a nicer place to be than trying to crawl across potholes while dodging idiots who insisted on passing you while barreling along in their high riding Escalades. I only had to do this four times over the course of the winter, so my heart goes out to those who had to do it twice a day, five days a week. I was so pleased to see that the city filled the worst potholes by my third trip, as it was actually scary.

Well, the city has finally decided to build a new Kosciuszko Bridge, using Federal infrastructure funds. But of course, it’s already running late, and they haven’t even started yet, even though it was supposed to be half finished by now. The new design is going to be a nine-lane bridge, which will consist of two eastbound spans, one westbound span, a walkway and a bike lane. They are supposed to start construction this winter. The new bridge will be a cable-stayed bridge, the first bridge of its type in New York City. The approved design is by Skanska-Kiewit-ECCO III JV (SKE), in partnership with lead design firm HNTB New York Engineering and Architecture, PC (HNTB).

A typical suspension bridge has cables strung between two towers, with the main cables then anchored to the ground, with secondary cables carrying the load across the span. A cable-stayed bridge has the same towers, but the load is primarily carried by the towers, and the cables carry the load down to the ground. They are strung in a triangular harp configuration, very different looking than the familiar lines of the Brooklyn or Manhattan bridges.

The city has bought up property through eminent domain, and plans to construct the new bridge while still using the old. When the new bridge is finished, the old Kosciusko Bridge will be torn down. The noble name of Tadeusz Kosciuszko will be transferred over to the new span. As a military engineer, I think he would be happy to see an improved bridge. Goodness knows, everyone else certainly will.

GMAP

Photo: Jim Henderson via Wikipedia