Alexander Hamilton Bridge

The Alexander Hamilton Bridge carries eight lanes of traffic over the Harlem River in New York City between the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx, connecting the Trans-Manhattan Expressway in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan and the Cross-Bronx Expressway, as part of Interstate 95. The bridge opened to traffic on January 15, 1963, the same day that the Cross-Bronx Expressway was completed. For 2005, the New York City Department of Transportation, which operates and maintains the bridge, reported average annual daily traffic volume in both directions of 181,566; having reached a peak AADT of 192,848 in 1990. The total length of bridge, including approaches, is 2,375 feet (724 m). The parallel main spans of the steel arch bridge stretch 555 feet (169 m) long over the Harlem River and provide 103 ft (31 m) of vertical clearance at the center and 366 ft (112 m) of horizontal clearance.

Alexander Hamilton Bridge

Carries                                    8 lanes of I-95 and US 1

Crosses                                   Harlem River

Locale                                    Manhattan and the Bronx, in New York City

Design                                    Arch bridge

Longest span                         555 feet (169 m)

Total length                           2,375 feet (724 m)

Vertical clearance                 103 ft (41 m)

Opening date                        January 15, 1963

After completion of the George Washington Bridge in 1931, traffic off that bridge into the Bronx would travel over the Washington Bridge, which crosses the Harlem River just north of the present Alexander Hamilton Bridge. The Alexander Hamilton Bridge was planned in the mid-1950s to connect to Robert Moses proposed Trans-Manhattan and Cross-Bronx Expressways and to accommodate the additional traffic resulting from the addition of the six-lane lower level to the George Washington Bridge. With the Interstate designation, 90% of the $21 million in construction costs were covered by the federal government. The Bridge design included a set of spiraling ramps to connect to and from the Major Deegan Expressway (completed in 1964) and a viaduct ramp connecting to the Harlem River Drive, both of which are over 100 feet (30 m) below the level of the Bridge, and access to Amsterdam Avenue.