Brooklyn, Thinking about Bayonne

Dave Frieder (1979)

The overhead signs on the BQE yesterday alerted drivers to nighttime closure of the Bayonne Bridge. At least it's a change from "Delays to the Kosciuszko Bridge." Today the Port Authority is beginning a two-year project to raise the elevation (I first wrote "evaluation," which I like) of the roadway, which will give larger cargo ships access to Newark and Elizabeth ports. I've always enjoyed the Bayonne's narrowness, in contrast to the wide platforms of its sisters, the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, the George Washington, and the Whitestone. It's rare to feel that high for so long with nothing on either side.

John A. Noble, Reproduction of historical drawing (1981)

The Noble Maritime Collection at Snug Harbor has a small online exhibit of artists' renderings of the bridge, including Dave "The Bridge Man" Frieder's shot through the trusses and a drawing from the Bridge's construction in 1930 (above).