History
It was built by the New York City Parkway Authority and opened on on June 3, 1939, before the authority was merged into the MTA Bridges and Tunnels (MTA). The bridge was a part of a program to develop Jamaica Bay as a recreational area instead of an industrial port. The 1939 bridge was a low-level bascule bridge. Reconstructed and opened to traffic on May 28, 1970, the new bridge is a high level fixed bridge carrying six traffic lanes and a sidewalk on the west side. This let boats pass under without delays to lift the drawbridge.
On December 30, 2010, the crossing charge for a two-axle passenger vehicle is increased to $3.25 (cash), $2.17 (token), and $1.80 ($1.45 discount) for E-ZPass users. The crossing charge for a motorcycle is $2.75 charged in each direction, with a $1.26 discount for E-ZPass users. Certain resident discounts apply to this bridge.
Rockaway and Broad Channel residents with E-ZPass pay $1.19 per trip for the first two trips per day, and pay nothing for additional trips. They pay $1.62 per trip with tokens.
The bridge is owned by the City of New York and operated by the MTA Bridges and Tunnels, an affiliate agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Read more about this topic: Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge
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“The best history is but like the art of Rembrandt; it casts a vivid light on certain selected causes, on those which were best and greatest; it leaves all the rest in shadow and unseen.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)
“Humankind has understood history as a series of battles because, to this day, it regards conflict as the central facet of life.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
“Bias, point of view, fury—are they ... so dangerous and must they be ironed out of history, the hills flattened and the contours leveled? The professors talk ... about passion and point of view in history as a Calvinist talks about sin in the bedroom.”
—Catherine Drinker Bowen (1897–1973)