Originally built in 1939, the Kosciuszko Bridge is a 1.1-mile segment of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway over Newtown Creek between Morgan Avenue in Brooklyn and the Long Island Expressway Interchange in Queens. The first phase of the two-phase replacement project included a new eastbound structure that is the first vehicular cable-stayed bridge in New York state. The cable-stayed spans are asymmetric and the post is in Brooklyn.

The bridge replacement “is unique in so many ways,” says Thomas J. Spearing III, senior vice president of HNTB Corp., the project’s lead design firm. He says the project is New York City’s first major new bridge since the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge opened in 1964, the first cable-stayed bridge to open in New York City, the largest single contract ever awarded by the New York State Dept. of Transportation and the first major design-build project in the five-borough region.

Built adjacent to the existing structure, the eastbound main span is wide enough to carry three lanes each of eastbound and westbound traffic until Phase 2—the construction of a new westbound span—is complete. The project also includes new traffic signals, LED lighting and utility replacement. The construction team was able to attain a 100-year service life for the bridge through concrete mix designs, stainless steel reinforcement, metalized and galvanized coatings and a corrosion protection plan. Sidewalks were also replaced and widened to improve pedestrian access. 

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