By Daniel Katzive
Ever wonder about the large steel structure at the banks of the Hudson River near 69th Street?
Well, it is about to get a makeover.
Work is set to begin early next year to restore the historic 69th Street Transfer Bridge in Riverside Park South. Planning for the project began nearly 10 years ago, but efforts have taken an important step forward this week with the awarding of a contract to do the work.
City procurement records revealed on Wednesday that a $5.4 million contract has been awarded to Agate Construction Company of Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, to reconstruct the transfer bridge. The Parks Department confirmed that construction is now expected to start in late January, 2025, with completion estimated to be in April, 2026.
The rusting 69th Street Transfer Bridge sits just off the Hudson River shoreline in Riverside Park South and is a holdover from a time when the area was home to the New York Central Railroad’s 60th Street Yard. The transfer bridge allowed freight cars to be rolled from tracks on land onto barges. The barges could then ferry the rail cars across the river to the Central’s Weehawken, New Jersey yards, connecting them to the national rail network west of the Hudson.
Freight cars could also be moved to other rail yards and piers around New York Harbor, and it was common to see them traveling New York’s waterways like this in the first half of the 20th Century. Today, just one such route remains active, with barges ferrying freight cars between Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and Jersey City on a daily basis, using technology similar to what was once in place on West 69th Street.
Earlier work to reinforce the transfer bridge was completed in 2012. The second phase of restoration beginning in January will involve more work to stabilize and restore the structure using historically appropriate materials, according to the Parks Department. Architectural lighting will also be installed on the towers and interpretive signage will be added at ground level.
Workers will also remove 65 pilings from the water near Pier F to the south.
“This project will preserve a historic feature that will continue to reflect and celebrate the city’s heritage,” said NYC Parks Manhattan Borough Commissioner Tricia Shimamura in a statement provided to West Side Rag on Wednesday.
The new restoration work is to update the aesthetics of the structure, but is not connected to a specific new use for the transfer bridge.
The 69th Street Transfer Bridge bridge was added to the National Registry of Historic Places in 2003.
According to materials included in the application to the Registry, the structure was built in 1911 and represented a significant engineering innovation at the time. The application, written by rail historian Thomas Flagg, called it “arguably one of the most historically significant industrial marine structures in the port, because of its innovative design and its relevance to the colorful working port that New York once was.”
The transfer bridge fell out of use after the 1968 merger between the New York Central and Pennsylvania Railroads, and the rail yards themselves were abandoned by the early 1980s, with the land eventually developed into the buildings along Riverside Boulevard and Waterline Square, as well as the southern extension of Riverside Park. New York Central’s old mainline down the Upper West Side continues to run under the buildings and is now connected to Penn Station and used by Amtrak’s Empire Service.
There was a brief period in the early 2000s where planners considered converting the transfer bridge to a landing for high-speed ferries that would have connected Riverside South with Wall Street. But that plan fizzled and the structure, comprising two vertical steel towers joined by a metal clad machinery house above, and two steel plate girder bridges below, was instead preserved as a memorial to the area’s industrial heritage.
The Parks Department told Community Board 7 back in 2015 that a future innovation would link the structure to the land so that visitors could walk out onto it, but it is unclear when and if that final phase might be funded.
The total cost for this phase of the project is now estimated at $6.6 million, with funding earmarked from federal, mayoral, and private sources. Parks Department officials told Community Board 7 back in 2015 when planning for this phase of the project began that federal funds would provide $2.8 million of what was then estimated as a $4.0 million total cost and that the developer of the buildings in Riverside South would provide $448,000.
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“The new restoration work is to update the aesthetics of the structure, but is not connected to a specific new use for the transfer bridge.”
Seems totally pointless, why not just demolish it instead?
By that logic, the remains of the High Line should have been demolished because they were old, rusty and unused. Instead, they were re-envisioned to create an amenity that serves today’s population while reminding us of the city’s history as a transportation hub. The transfer bridge is similarly a powerful (and to my eye beautiful) artifact of NYC’s industrial and maritime past. I hope the plans are implemented to make it accessible to walkers and dreamers.
When you travel abroad, every major city you visit makes an effort to keep reminders of its past. We are the only country, and certainly the only major city in the world, that zealously destroys almost every remnant of its fascinating history. That’s why we never learn its lessons and keep making the same mistakes.
If we follow your logic, let’s remove the (Queens, NY) Unisphere, the 1964 World’s Fair is over; let’s remove Ellis Island, no immigrants have arrived there since 1954; let’s knock down the High Bridge, it stopped carrying water in 1949 ; Fort Wadsworth should go, it hasn’t been an active military installation since 1994; let’s take the rusty Pier 54 gate to a scrap yard, Cunard no longer operates at Pier 54; etc., etc., etc.
Tell you what. Why don’t you and those who like your comment start a fund-raising scheme to pay for it rather than use tax-payer money. The transfer station served commercial purposes. It has far less historical or cultural significance than most of the other things you mentioned, especially Ellis Island.
Projects like this should require voter referendums, not unilateral decision-making by politicians and their lackeys.
Following your logic, I am not a dog owner, so the dog run should only be paid for by people who use it; the General Grant National Memorial should only be maintained with funds from those who voted for President Grant; the Washington Square Arch should only be maintained with funds for those who look at it; the Museum of Natural History should only receive funds from those who attend it (and not the government).
There are ample uses of public funds for each of us would disagree; overall, compromise is inherent in our the system of government in which we all have chosen to live under. Invoking “The Rolling Stones,” “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, well, you might find, you get what you need.”
It’s interesting. Its surrounded by a lovely park that already had a train theme including a locomotive. This adds to the experience of the park. There’s no downside. If you want all new stuff always, move to Dallas.
Actually yeah, at least half of those should go too, especially the Pier 54 gate.
“The 69th Street Transfer Bridge bridge was added to the National Registry of Historic Places in 2003.”
Why not just end history and restart from year one today?
Replying to myself.
If yesterday doesn’t matter anymore, does today matter, since today will be yesterday, tomorrow?
Think!
I’m old. I do remember going to summer camp in Pennsylvania, leaving from the old Pennsylvania Station and taking the ferry across to catch a train to Homedale, PA. they did not put us in passenger cars one the ferry if I remember correctly. Could it have been that they did? Any other old folks here who also remember?
In Riverside Park, there are crumbling paths that can’t be walked on, playgrounds that are unusable, bike and pedestrian markings that have faded away etc etc This money should be redirected.
Maybe you haven’t been down there in a couple of weeks but they just started working on the stretch between 96 and 125.
Yes. You’re probably right. But let’s keep that thing. It’s cool.
It’s not going anywhere soon, renovation or not.
Not everything old is worth spending $5m on preserving
Not everything new, costing 5 million dollars (nothing in Manhattan construction) or more is worth building.
And yet, crap architecture is built all the time in NYC.
It’s such an eyesore—I cannot believe that refurbishing a useless (and unattractive) structure is even being considered.
I love it . To each their own, I suppose.
I absolutely love the structure and actually wish they did nothing with it, and rather deploy the funding to adding trees and underbrush to the park. It was look nicer and reduces the erosion that destroys parks (like Dino).
Seriously, I love it. And whatever they’re going to replace the boat dock with is going to be a true eyesore, in comparison. Eyesore, meaning modern and out of character with the river’s history and the natural surroundings. “Make new friends, but keep the old. Some are silver and the others, gold.” Rust is good, too.
Downtown ferry service would be great – Commuting via waterways is lovely – They should consider the old plan of a ferry stop
compromised of two vertical steel towers
I think you meant comprised of.
Looks like the mating of “composed of” and “comprised of”!
Thanks.
I love that thing. Please don’t change it too much!!
Did this structure not get a makeover about 20 years ago? Water and metal are not friends, I understand. But I recall they replaced the pilings with new concrete and essentially solidified the lower deck of the platform. What are the “aesthetics” that have been agreed upon to maintain? Happy to hear about something above the waterline that might extend the life of the superstructure from falling apart.
nice, informative article – thank you!
Just wanted to say this was a very well researched, interesting piece on a local curiosity. Thanks Daniel!
Another complete boondoggle. To go along with the $100 million being spent on the Soldiers and Sailors monument and the 79th Street boat basin. DOES ANYONE SEE THE TERRIBLE CONDITION OF RIVERSIDE PARK AND RIVERSIDE DRIVE. Along riverside drive there are giant holes in the ground with metal barricades around them (as has been the case for years). The pavers along riverside drive between about 97th and 106th are in decrepit and unsafe condition. The walkway along the wall is a disaster. Inside the park there are gigantic lakes after rainstorms where mesquitos gestate. You can’t job along a smooth path. There are large fissures in the concrete sections of the rail tunnel that are plainly in site from above which will someday break off and collapse onto the rails below or a moving train. There are light posts and drainage catch basins that are collapsed. Most of the lights along the Bloomberg Riverwalk pathway are broken and vegetation is growing to separate the river retaining wall from the pathway (wait a little while and a modest maintenance item will turn into a major repair). The bowed out section of the river retaining wall at the clay courts has remained like that for years and created a severe pinch point right at the worse possible location at the entrance to the courts. None of the deep divots along the river pathway have been filled for years – including the one where the delivery person was killed (typical for NYC to have a memorial bike there for years with flowers BUT NO ONE FIXES THE HOLE!). I could go on and on. Sheer incompetency and madness.
Historic preservation is great; but, how about updating and adding new toilet facilities instead in the older parts of RSP? Interesting priorities…
An utter and complete waste of money. Let the thing decay.
Has no one noticed that the park already has a train theme and this enhances it?! The locomotive, the names of train lines on the pedestrian bridge in the lower third of the park… I love this thing and am glad they’re restoring it. The restored Upper Riverside park near the old Fairway, also has some features that pay tribute to the railway history.
Were those the days?
Great!
I wish they would repair the water fountains too.
Does anyone remember Pier C and D. Pier D was a large storage facility that handled the cargo for the Gantry (as the transfer bridge is also known — I’m surprised no one has referenced that name). Trump wanted all of this history removed so that the waterfront would be all-new development and not an “eye sore” as he and many considered. Several people — including Elizabeth Rogers and myself — were involved in fighting to preserve the structures for their maritime historical significance as well as what we regarded as their beauty. We wrote to then-Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, and I had a letter published in the New York Times. Trump’s bulldozers managed to tear down Pier D (known as the Spaghetti Pier for its fascinating network of twisted steel, following a fire) and Pier C (there are still some remnants), but we “saved” the Gantry and a few other remnants. A plaque was erected in the park that alludes to pleas by citizens to save the historic structures. I’m proud of my fight with Trump (we literally stood in front of bulldozers while we waited for the Parks ruling to come in) and that we had some success, sad to lose the Spaghetti Pier, and heartened to see that some folks see beauty and worth in our history, even for things that provide no other practical use than to stand and bear witness to a bygone past.
This link is video of the demolition of Pier D.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJpWH24GY9Q
Ooh, that hurts to watch, but thanks for sharing.
Thanks for adding this dimension to the story, and for your good work in helping preserve at least part of the city’s maritime and and transportation heritage from the Yahoos. Interesting that the Gantry Plaza State Park in Queens uses the word, and features some of the transfer bridges and piers that were used when the site was a working dockyard.
I loved the spaghetti pier and wondered what happened to it. Thank you for trying to save it!
Thank you, Carmella and Steen, for your comments! For you, and anyone else interested, here’s an old site that includes pics of the long-gone Pier D. I took many photos, myself, back in the day, but they’re on an old computer and I must find them. I was planning a coffee-table book at some point, but Trump and his bulldozers got in the way!
https://www.scoutingny.com/ruins-in-the-hudson/
They should at least make this a walkable pier or park.
I photographed this structure on a jaunt to NYC from our home in Maine, and my favorite image frames it quite differently than others I have seen. Rather than the Hudson as a backdrop, instead using the modern cityscape and b&w to emphasize a changing New York. I channeled my inner Berenice Abbot (with apologies) “Changing New York” https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B1y5VtHQfDC208
Nice:)
Please renovate upper Riverside Park in the 90’s-125th.
The transfer bridge, as it exists now, is an aesthetic blight on the neighborhood.
Could Gifford Reynolds Beal have painted the structure from a high floor or the roof of The Chatsworth, which may well have been the tallest building in that area in 1915?