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
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Perhaps universal history is the history of the diverse intonation of some metaphors.”
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)
“History is more or less bunk. It’s tradition. We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker’s damn is the history we make today.”
—Henry Ford (1863–1947)
“The history of the past is but one long struggle upward to equality.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)