Queensboro Bridge, Cantilever bridge over the East River in Manhattan and Queens, New York City, United States
The Queensboro Bridge is a two-level double cantilever bridge of steel trusses over the East River, with separate cantilevered spans over the channels on each side of Roosevelt Island joined by a fixed central truss. Its five steel spans measure about 3,725 ft between the anchorages, and the total length with approach viaducts is 7,449 ft. The trusses are not suspended but directly connected to each other, and the top chords of parallel eyebars form a sagging curve that often makes the bridge mistaken for a chain bridge.
Construction began on July 19, 1901, and the bridge opened to traffic on March 30, 1909, at a cost of 20 million dollars; 50 workers died during the building. It was designed by Gustav Lindenthal with Leffert L. Buck and architect Henry Hornbostel. The American Society of Civil Engineers listed it as a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 2009.
The bridge was first planned as the Blackwell's Island Bridge, but property owners and civic groups rejected that name, so it took the name of the borough of Queens. In 2011 it was renamed for former mayor Ed Koch, a move that Queens residents and business leaders opposed; most people still say Queensboro.
The lower deck's former trolley track on the north side has been a 3 m (10 ft) path since 2000, now a bike-only lane since 2025, while the south track opened as a pedestrian walkway in May 2025. The Roosevelt Island Tramway runs alongside the bridge's northern side.
The bridge's original name was to be Blackwell's Island Bridge, but property owners and civic groups opposed it, and it became Queensboro Bridge instead. The island below was renamed Welfare Island in 1921 and Roosevelt Island in 1973. The Queensbridge Houses, built north of the bridge in 1939, take their name from it.
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