Naturally, the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority has their headquarters inside the Triborough Bridge. Wait, inside? Sure enough, the Randall's Island bridge approach wasn't built on fill, it was built on building, and this plaque is hidden within. Click for a more legible closeup.


This looks like the stub of a crosstown freeway, but I'm fairly sure it's just extra structure built at the west end. At freeway level. Not sure why. Photos look west on the 125th St. exit ramp and east from 1st Ave.


The two WB ramp splits in Manhattan, the second of which divides 2 Av./125 St. traffic from Harlem River Dr./126 St. I kept the first photo for the classic pole.


The moment you've all been waiting for: walking east across the bridge. Is that not what you've been waiting for? I was, so I went and did it. The 3rd photo is another lamppost detail because I love lamp.


Were you waiting for me to drive it instead of walking? Photos finish on the ramp to I-278 NB with a look east at the bridge finishing off the Hell Gate viaduct across Bronx Kill.


Looking north along the Harlem River at the Willis Ave., 3rd Ave., and Park Ave. Bridges. The first two are a NB/SB pair, and the last one is a railroad bridge that just happens to be named for a road. Notice that the Willis Ave. bridge is a swing span but swings less than 90 degrees to be parallel to the river.


Surprise! You can see the George Washington Bridge from here, looking northwest across Manhattan.


Starting off westbound. This is an active lift span, so this signal occasionally sees action.


Finishing off westbound. This was the largest lift span in the world when the bridge opened in 1936, and it's still quite a massive structure now.


Years ago, the EB end of the Manhattan span had button copy with tacked-on shields. I know the Interstate designations are older than the signs, but it just wasn't a high priority for NY to sign route numbers in the 1960s-early 1970s. The first sign, fresh out of the toll plaza, doesn't look like it fit "Downing Stadium" so I'm not sure what the second line started as.


Now, the moment you've actually all been waiting for, an old milemarker from the old NYC reference numbering system. The other ones applied to parkways (Belt-Cross Island as 9X, Pelham as 8X, Mosholu as 4X, Hutchinson as 1X), so I assume that mainline 2X is the FDR Drive-Harlem River Drive combo. However, if that's the mainline, the Triboro is clearly part of 2X in its own right, since the center line (03-- and 04--) denotes the road as east-west and the bottom line denotes this as the beginning of mile measurement.

Continue south on the Triboro Bridge (I-278)
Continue north on the Triboro Bridge (I-278)

Onto Harlem River Drive
Onto FDR Drive
Onto 125th Street
To George Washington Bridge
Over to the Willis Avenue Bridge
Over to Park Avenue
To I-87
Into Manhattan
Triboro Bridge on Steve Anderson's nycroads.com
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