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I love this bridge since I first seen it and rode over it back in the late 60's living in Jersey City to get to Newark. One day in the 80's we were driving over one of the high spans at night and a car tire was lying in the road. We hit it and stopped to get out of my car with my friends and pick up the tire and throw it over and off the bridge into the river way below. What a splash and memories. Thank you for all these amazing videos you have posted. I love your channel.
My grandmother lived in Jersey City 4 houses from the Tonnellee Circle. This was the east end of the Skyway. The Skyway crossed 2 rivers the Hackensack and the Passaic. Later on I drove across it many times going to Philadelphia and I see it as a time warp,it looks exactly as it did in 1930.
I'm two blocks from Othmar Ammann's home on Staten Island. In addition to the Pulaski, he also build all for bridges connection Staten Island auto traffic to the world, the Outerbridge Crossing, Goethals Bridge, Bayonne Bridge and the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. He also built the GW Bridge in addition to the Whitestone, Throgs Neck, and Walt Whitman bridges.
He's literally the signature suspension bridge builder for NYC and environs. With the exception of the Brooklyn bridge, literally every other major crossing was one of his projects and designs. Iconic.
He was good but not perfect. He didn't fully appreciate the importance of a stiffened deck and relied too much on plate sides for the bridge deck. Several of his bridges needed to be strengthen after the Tacoma Narrows Bridge failed. They quickly added the lower deck to the GW bridge to stiffen it.
@greentriumph1643 Not accurate. The only Ammann designed bridge needing reinforcement was the Bronx-Whitestone. It was not in danger of collapse like the Tacoma Narrows, but wind oscillations were sufficiently troubling that cable stays then a stiffening truss were added. A lighter road deck has since allowed that truss' removal. The George Washington Bridge never had such issues. The lower deck was planned from the outset, originally to carry a rail connection. Increased auto traffic lead to its addition in 1962, with diagonal stiffening trusses.
@@dk50b "In addition to providing extra capacity, the lower level served to stiffen the bridge in high winds; before the lower deck was constructed, the George Washington Bridge was known to swing up to 30 inches" You can also read, "To Engineer is Human, Henry Petroski.
That road is a death trap. Driven on this road countless lf times. Theres no shoulders for disabled cars. Get into an accident there, traffic is almost at a standstill for miles.
We always had really good luck on the Skyway. It's a road not many want to use. We used it to avoid the Turnpike going to the tunnel. But I can see the whole hazard aspect of the road. Why people would choose not to take the Skyway. It is a bit spooky. I remember there was road construction for years at one end of the Skyway. The crew was just making a career out of the job. Then one day they got to working and finally finished it. We couldn't believe when they left.
As a lifetime resident of New Jersey you have not really experienced life until you’ve driven over the skyway in a winter storm or pouring rain! my favorite part are the entrances and exit in the middle of the bridge so you have people pulling out in front of you at 20 miles an hour when you’re doing 65 in the fast lane! it’s not the faint of heart,a lot people get killed on that road every year. We just don’t tell you about it.😊
You are not kidding! I still can recall, vividly, driving back to Hoboken over the Skyway during a spring Nor'easter; high winds and sideways rain. Good times!
@@Jesse615 Glad you are still here to comment about it! Please be careful on that road! It’s no joke! I guess it was safe and designed to drive the model T over at 20 mph!
The best part of driving the Skyway for me is the southbound section of the 1&9 just north Newark Airport where the bridge sections aren't exactly level and it feels like a bit like a galloping roller coaster if you drive it at a good clip.
The engineer who designed that section, Sigvald Johannesson, had extensive experience in railroad structures. The idea of a limited access vehicular highway was so new, he based it on railroad principles. As signals control all such meeting points, there's no collision potential. The inherent hazard of merging into fast moving traffic wasn't recognized till after The Skyway opened.
Or driven a ninja with a person on back, over the bridge grating, during the beginning of a snowstorm. We had our "last meal" of cheeseburgers before getting back on the last leg of our journey, back into Jersey City. We didn't 🎲
I was born in Kearny New Jersey within sight of the Skyway. If you look at pictures of the Skyway, the point where the bridges rest on the concrete pylons are extremely small. The loading per square foot must be enormous.
You're right I was looking at those two it's like looking at 3D pivoted triangles on each of the four corners holding the main span.. if one of them slips or an earthquake tremor could easily cordless domino effect. Just like the key Bay bridge . Real marvel to look at. But.... How many cars a day pass over the Pulaski skyway
That was the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in it's early stages. They showed it when they showed the Swiss fella that designed the Skyway, Verrazano, GW, Throgs Neck, Bayonne, and several other area bridges
I was up there several times as a paramedic. One foggy night the ground was shrouded by the fog. You couldn't see anything below other than an eerie glow from the streetlights. I remember wondering if that's what Heaven is like.
As a north Jersey resident I'd always hear jokes of Hoffa's body being buried under Giant Stadium. After the old stadium was demolished and replaced with Metlife, I never heard of it again until now.
They did look for any signs of Hoffa after they tore down Giants Stadium, but did not see anything. There is however a Potter's Field located in the vicinity of Seacaucus Junction (NJTP Eastern Spur Exit-15X) that still has bodies buried there.
@@rwboa22 I don't think the Newark Bay Extension was built until the 1950's and that is an expensive toll route for trucks. The video implied alternatives were very long in 1933.
@@billtheunjust it’s not just this creator that is guilty of poor research. There are many content creators on this platform that use stock footage of anything they can find most of the time something that has nothing to do with the topic they’re discussing and use that footage in their video which makes no sense to me
I uh .. I'm not sure what you saw but the only bridge that I saw that wasn't the Pulaski was the beginning stages of the Verrazano. And that was only when they showed the fella that designed the Verrazano, GW, Pulaski, and Throgs Neck bridges to name a few.
I love that bridge. Nothing scary about it at all, unless you fear Heights. When I was a child and my parents drove over that bridge it was like I was flying in an airplane. The side railings /walls of the bridge have openings which at high speeds become translucent.. and you can see the world below.
@@luisarroyo1368Agreed one of the most exhilarating trips you can take. Industrial sprawl isn't everyone's idea of scenery, but soaring above on the first elevated superhighway still gives me goosebumps.
I always hated this bridge. My first time driving on it after many years im in the right lane trying not to be that guy who exits and cuts traffic last second. After about an hour and some change it turns out the right lane ended as an exit only lane and the left lane continued straight which is where i needed to go, massive facepalm moment to myself
@@leechjim8023 i really should have remembered that, i live 30 minutes from the city no traffic but live a block away from my local trainstation. Apart from the traffic headache, parking lots in the city are expensive. Id rather just walk the entire time now lol
What isn't mentioned is that Mr Hoffa disappeared near Detroit. It really doesn't make a lot of sense for the an organized crime enterprise to transport either a body or a prisoner 600 miles to dispose of or kill and dispose of him in New Jersey. Especially considering that there are two great lakes within 50 miles of Detroit (lakes Huron and Erie, not counting Lake Saint Claire right off of Detroit) My bet is that his remains are at the bottom of one of those lakes.
In this video, there are 2 quick shots of the old PSE&G gas plant that was where I worked for my first real job. When you took the Belleville Tpk from N. Arlington, through the swamp you went across the Whittpen bridge, and the primary gas holder was right there on the left. The large tank with the metal framework around it is #2 holder. It would be awesome if you could do something about the gas plants that were in NJ that belonged to PSEG. There was West End in Jersey City, Paterson, and Harrison. The Harrison plant had the huge tank that had "Go Navy" painted on the side that was visited from the NJ Tpk. The plants were there to augment the natural gas supply. Brooklyn Union Gas Co. had plants in NYC. When it got very cold in the winter, these plants would come online producing "oil gas", made from a process using #2 oil. If you lived near one of these plants, you always knew when they were online because the stove burners flames were more yellow than blue. Yeah.....I'm old. 😊
@@FromSagansStardust I don't really remember those since we never used the extension. But I do remember the big waterless holder in Harrison that had "Go Navy" on the side thar could be seen from the Turnpike. That was the Harrison gas plant. 😊
Passed by there a few days ago. I scanned for what I could find, then spotted that tiny PS Triangle logo within some concrete arch work! Now I can maybe decipher places you mentioned! Thx, A ##JerseyBoy from birth!!
I grew up Montclair, NJ, visible on your map at 3:25. I remember riding over the Pulaski Skyway with my Dad, going into NYC usually through the Holland tunnel. I remember he thought the Skyway kind of a special privilege to drive over. This was late 50's - early 60's. Wasn't any big deal to drive through the Holland or Lincoln Tunnels, but the Skyway, that was special.
You do a lot of episodes concerning New York and New Jersey, are you from the area or do you find it particularly interesting for some other reason? Not a complaint; I live in NJ and I'm always interested in learning about local history.
Great video. Worked at Kearny Point for 5 years starting in the early 1990s. Loved working up there. Used to go to the Skyway Diner (now closed) at least once a week under the Skyway which was so prominently featured in The Soprano’s episode when Christopher was shot. Good memories! Shout out to Eddie! Youullll!
Just about every MAJOR urban bridge has as dark a history. Here in Edmonton? It's the High Level Bridge which until barriers were installed used to have at last 12-24 people leap from it annually... And even today there's usually at least one distress call per week on it even with help phones, cameras, netting, etc. Of course the same is true with THE BRIDGE aka The Golden Gate Bridge and its now infamous documentary about people who have attempted self harm on it...
I think a big detailed missed is how the NJ turnpike was constructed AFTER pulaski. One of the biggest issues /concerns was figuring out how the turnpike would pass pulaski. They were unsure weather to go over or under and contenplated how the clearence would work and the incline etx. Its a small detaike di lesrned about when reasing about the contruction of the turnpike
I worked under and around, as well as used the Pulaski highway, during my employment with N.J. Bell Tel in the 70's. Great memories, thanks for the history of this great structure
Ugly bridge,to say the least with a less than charming reputation. Chris Christie forced the Port Authority to pay for the renovations, arguing the bridge, which is miles from the holland tunnel, was an approach road. Why they would risk bringing hoffa to nj to dispose of is idiotic. They would have killed him in detroit, then put the body in a car,crush it and then melt it down.
True about the PANYNJ being bullied by Gov. Christie (who also used his appointments at the PANYNJ with the infamous "Bridgegate' scandal to get over $1 Billion for needed renovations for the structure instead of getting it from taxpayers. In large part, is was a diversion of PA funds to be used with the replacement of the train tunnel to Penn Station of NY, a project cancelled by Gov. Christie as didn't want the state stuck with billions in share costs to the state's taxpayers. The rational used by the PA was that it was a 'major connector' to the PA's Holland Tunnel. I worked in the PA's law department at the time as a litigation support specialist and brought the documents for the deal after approval of the PA's Board to the office of the Attorney General of NJ in Trenton for them to sign off on it, then the next day delivering documents, possible a check for the transfer (I didn't look inside the sealed envelope) and pick up signed documents.
I’ve driven on this road hundreds of times back in the 1980s and 90s. It always had a vibe about it that gave me a sense of part thrill and part dread. It’s unlike any other roadway I’ve ever driven on. Just the thought of exits to the left is so unusual. And the steep ramps! Kind of scary, for sure! It does have sort of an eerie beauty about it. It’s as if the structure is beckoning you. Challenging and daring you to cross it.
I was born at 5:33 AM the same day Jimmy Hoffa disappeared, July 30, 1975. As that was one of the biggest news stories that day. I have always been fascinated by his mysterious disappearance/
The Pulaski Motor Speedway..in off peak hours. Named for A Polish General has a speed limit of 45 MPH. I've driven both with and without the concrete medium. For many years a garbage dump burned under the skyway. Recently, repainted and new drainage put up but it actually should be part of a train track connecting NYC and Newark Airport.
The signs for “ truck route 1-9 are still all over JC. IT WAS for trucks unable to use the skyway. Apart from the signs, nothing was ever done to re route traffic until the turnpike extension was built.
There were all sorts of theories on what happened to Hoffa's body - everything from being buried under the Meadowlands, to under the Hudson to under Yankee stadium. The recent movie about Hoffa (The Irishman) had the most plausible answer - he was cremated.
How well has the Skyway been kept up? Was there concern about its condition, after the Minneapolis bridge collapse? That is, like so many other bridges, at the time.
I believe they actually had one of the killers of Hoffa explain how they got rid of him there in DETROIT and how they cleaned up the scene of the murder.
There's a Park in Manchester, New Hampshire with a statue dedicated to the Polish Marshall-General. I'm pretty sure it's the same one this Bridge is named for.
The Skyway was mentioned in the 1938 war of the worlds radio show. At one point it is stated the Martians are straddling the Pulaski Skyway. It gets destroyed in the 2005 war of the worlds movie.
I worked on and under the area where the Skyway is in the 60's and 70's for N.J.Bell Telephone we had emergency telephones on the Skyway for accidents and break downs. Unless forced to go on it (for a job) I would take US 1 truck route under it. The left lane mergers were deadly.
Some corrections and clarifications. There have been bridges over the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers since Colonial times, including several capable of handling vehicular traffic. The Pulaski Skyway didn't replace any ferries, instead providing a high capacity direct route to the Hudson River waterfront and Holland Tunnel. The Skyway is a combination of cantilevered deck trusses and two 550 foot through Pratt trusses spanning the rivers. There are no suspension sections. Those spans were designed by NJ Highway Commission engineer Sigvald Johannesson. As his experience was in railroad structures, where all movements are controlled by signals, the hazards of left merges and no center barrier weren't evident. Othmar Ammann, then Chief Engineer of The Port of New York Authority, played no role in The Skyway's design. Lastly, the time wasted on Jimmy Hoffa would've been better spent discussing the 14 men who died building The Skyway, and William T Harrison, beaten to death by members of the Iron Worker's Union in violence that plagued the entire project due to use of nonunion labor.
I’ve driven on this roadway hundreds of times, and it can be pretty intimidating on a foggy morning. Even at the best of times, this bridge attracts more than its share of idiots who bonk into each other. You’ll be crawling for an hour in the left lane, and eventually realize that everyone has to creep into the right lane to get around an accident. Then 20 minutes later after you’ve only gone 100 yards, you find that everyone has to get into the left lane to avoid an accident that happened earlier, but no, just as you’re doing that you find that you have to stay in the right lane to let an emergency vehicle pass you. It can take literally hours. I nearly always take a different route.
Thank You for your great video and your marvelous storytelling. Please allow me one annotation: The structure in the picture from 6:00 to 6:21 m:ss seems to be the San Francisco - Oakland Bay bridge, not the Pulasky Skyway.
thanks for the video. As a utlity worker in Brooklyn living in N.J. I had a daily diet of the Pulaski for many years .In every kind of weather day or night and stuck in traffic jams for hours too ..I can attest to the steepness of the off ramps. It is still an amazing structure but I'm happily retired now. Just knowing I don't have to face it every day or night rain and snow is a blessing in itself
Logistically it doesn’t make sense. Hoffa disappeared in Michigan it would be way too much exposure to move the body to Jersey. There were plenty of construction sites in Detroit and plenty of sausage factories as well.
That's a very ugly and extremely dangerous bridge and elevated highway. I mean, access ramps in the middle of the roadway with hardly any room to accelerate and merge into traffic? Seriously??? 🤨
