Arthur Kill Vertical Lift Bridge

Arthur Kill Vertical Lift Bridge
Arthur Kill Lift Bridge
Coordinates	40°38′15″N 74°11′44″W / 40.637518°N 74.195486°W / 40.637518; -74.195486Coordinates: 40°38′15″N 74°11′44″W / 40.637518°N 74.195486°W / 40.637518; -74.195486
Carries	Conrail and M&E rail lines
Crosses	Arthur Kill
Locale	Elizabeth, New Jersey and Staten Island, New York, United States
Owner	New York City Economic Development Corporation
Characteristics
Design	Vertical-lift bridge
Height	215 feet (66 m)
Longest span	558 feet (170 m)
Clearance below	135 feet (41 m)
Rail characteristics
No. of tracks	1
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Structure gauge	AAR
Electrified	None
History
Opened	August 25, 1959; reopened October 4, 2006

The Arthur Kill Vertical Lift Railroad Bridge is a railroad-only, vertical-lift bridge connecting Elizabethport, New Jersey and the Howland Hook Marine Terminal on Staten Island, New York, United States. The bridge was built by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1959 to replace a swing bridge opened in 1890. It is a single-track bridge that parallels the Goethals Bridge, which is a section of Interstate 278. It has the longest lift span of any vertical-lift bridge in the world, with two 215-foot (66 m) towers and a 558-foot (170 m) truss span that allows a 500-foot (152 m) channel. It clears mean high water by 31 feet (9.45 m) when closed and 135 feet (41 m) when lifted.

After the bridge opened in 1959 upon having replaced the Arthur Kill Bridge, rail traffic declined due to manufacturing facilities on Staten Island closing. Bethlehem Steel closed in 1960, U.S. Gypsum in 1972, U.S. Lines-Howland Hook Marine Terminal in 1986, and Procter and Gamble in 1991. A shift to truck traffic also reduced rail traffic over the bridge, and the North Shore branch of rail service went through a series of owners. The three companies that owned the North Branch were B&O Railroad, CSX, and the Delaware Otsego Corporation. They saw the bridge as excess property. The last freight train went over the Arthur Kill Lift Bridge in 1990, and North Shore branch service ended until 2007.