New York City's Bridges: Macombs Dam Bridge

This bridge's name derives from an earlier bridge and dam that Alexander Macomb (a farmer and landowner) built on this site in 1814. The current bridge was designed by Alfred P Boller and it was completed in 1895. The main span is 412 ft long over two 150 ft wide channels. Thus, it is the biggest of Boller's Harlem River swing bridges and it's considered the most attractive of his Gothic Revival designs. Like his other bridges, the Macombs Dam Bridge consists of an oddly-shaped through truss due to the tower above the center pier. It was recently rehabilitated (as shown in photo) with new trusses, a new deck, and a new motor. In fact plans have also begun to retrofit this bridge to resist an earthquake that is likely to occur in the area.

As usual, much more information on this bridge is available from New York City Roads.

New York City's Bridges: Macombs Dam Bridge by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.