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12. The Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge

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Crossing the Hudson
This chapter is in the book Crossing the Hudson
By the time vehicles first began to crossthe Tappan Zee Bridge,in the winter of 1955, construction of another Hudson River bridge,seventy-five miles farther north, was well along. It would connectKingston, New York State’s first capital, with the northwesterly corner ofNew York’s Dutchess County.It’s not surprising that the Kingston-Rhinecli¤ was one of the last of theriver’s bridges to be built. It didn’t have the advantage of lying along theroute of the New York State Thruway, as the Tappan Zee did, and in fact, itdidn’t really have much in the way of other major highway connectionsto justify it either. There was a modest amount of industry in the area,but during the diªcult days of the Depression that certainly hadn’t beenenough to convince the legislature that money should be spent there fora bridge. Depression conditions notwithstanding, the growing use of auto-mobiles during the 1930s had increased the popularity of the Catskill Moun-tain resort area, which was easily reached through Kingston and Rhinecli¤,but wartime restrictions on the use of gasoline quickly reduced that travel.Once the war got underway, few if any projects not essential to its prose-cution got much attention, and the idea of a bridge between Kingston andRhinecli¤ languished.Of course, people in and near Kingston and Rhinecli¤ had been gettingacross the river by ferryboat for almost 250 years by then, and they had forthe most part accepted its weaknesses along with its strengths. The evolu-tion of that system, which was older than most, had pretty much followedthe historical pattern of many of the Hudson’s other ferries, starting witha periauger, a small vessel that relied on a couple of hollowed-out logs for196chapter12The Kingston-Rhinecli¤ Bridge
© 2019 Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick

By the time vehicles first began to crossthe Tappan Zee Bridge,in the winter of 1955, construction of another Hudson River bridge,seventy-five miles farther north, was well along. It would connectKingston, New York State’s first capital, with the northwesterly corner ofNew York’s Dutchess County.It’s not surprising that the Kingston-Rhinecli¤ was one of the last of theriver’s bridges to be built. It didn’t have the advantage of lying along theroute of the New York State Thruway, as the Tappan Zee did, and in fact, itdidn’t really have much in the way of other major highway connectionsto justify it either. There was a modest amount of industry in the area,but during the diªcult days of the Depression that certainly hadn’t beenenough to convince the legislature that money should be spent there fora bridge. Depression conditions notwithstanding, the growing use of auto-mobiles during the 1930s had increased the popularity of the Catskill Moun-tain resort area, which was easily reached through Kingston and Rhinecli¤,but wartime restrictions on the use of gasoline quickly reduced that travel.Once the war got underway, few if any projects not essential to its prose-cution got much attention, and the idea of a bridge between Kingston andRhinecli¤ languished.Of course, people in and near Kingston and Rhinecli¤ had been gettingacross the river by ferryboat for almost 250 years by then, and they had forthe most part accepted its weaknesses along with its strengths. The evolu-tion of that system, which was older than most, had pretty much followedthe historical pattern of many of the Hudson’s other ferries, starting witha periauger, a small vessel that relied on a couple of hollowed-out logs for196chapter12The Kingston-Rhinecli¤ Bridge
© 2019 Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. List of Illustrations vii
  4. Acknowledgments ix
  5. Introduction 1
  6. 1. Waterford, the First Bridge 7
  7. 2. Steam and a Bridge at Troy 17
  8. 3. Three Railroad Bridges at Albany 30
  9. 4. The Last of the Railroad Bridges: Poughkeepsie and Castleton 49
  10. 5. The Railroad Tunnels 72
  11. 6. The Bear Mountain Bridge 92
  12. 7. The Holland and Lincoln Tunnels 106
  13. 8. The George Washington Bridge 127
  14. 9. The Mid-Hudson Bridge 151
  15. 10. The Rip Van Winkle Bridge 165
  16. 11. The Tappan Zee Bridge 177
  17. 12. The Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge 196
  18. 13. The Newburgh-Beacon Bridges 210
  19. Epilogue 227
  20. Notes 235
  21. Index 259
  22. About the Author 271
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https://doi.org/10.36019/9780813549507-015

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. List of Illustrations vii
  4. Acknowledgments ix
  5. Introduction 1
  6. 1. Waterford, the First Bridge 7
  7. 2. Steam and a Bridge at Troy 17
  8. 3. Three Railroad Bridges at Albany 30
  9. 4. The Last of the Railroad Bridges: Poughkeepsie and Castleton 49
  10. 5. The Railroad Tunnels 72
  11. 6. The Bear Mountain Bridge 92
  12. 7. The Holland and Lincoln Tunnels 106
  13. 8. The George Washington Bridge 127
  14. 9. The Mid-Hudson Bridge 151
  15. 10. The Rip Van Winkle Bridge 165
  16. 11. The Tappan Zee Bridge 177
  17. 12. The Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge 196
  18. 13. The Newburgh-Beacon Bridges 210
  19. Epilogue 227
  20. Notes 235
  21. Index 259
  22. About the Author 271
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