Throgs Neck Bridge Turns 50 on Jan. 11

NEW YORK — The Throgs Neck Bridge, built as a key link in the interstate highway system, is turning 50 years old on Jan. 11. The suspension bridge, which connects the Bronx to Queens and Long Island, was the first major bridge of the postwar era.

“We’re proud to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Throgs Neck, which plays an integral role daily in keeping traffic moving through this vital transportation corridor linking New York City with Long Island and New York’s northern counties” MTA Bridges and Tunnels President Jim Ferrara said in a news release.

A 1955 joint study by the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (now MTA Bridges and Tunnels) and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey recommended building the Throgs Neck and Verrazano-Narrows Bridges and adding a lower level to the George Washington Bridge, as well as several new expressways, to help keep growing traffic moving in the region.

The Throgs Neck was the first of those three recommendations to come to fruition. The lower level of the George Washington Bridge opened in 1962 and the Verrazano-Narrows opened in 1964.

Ground was broken for the Throgs Neck Bridge on Oct. 22, 1957 and three years, two months and 20 days later city officials, including Robert Moses, chairman of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, New York City Mayor Robert F. Wagner, Bronx Borough President James J. Lyons and Queens Borough President John T. Clancy of Queens, gathered at the Bronx toll plaza to cut the ceremonial ribbon.