page_title: Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge
section_title: Renovation
hierarchical_section_title: Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge / History / Renovation
caption_attribution_description: Crews work during Phase One of repairs to the upper level of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Work is expected to continue through summer 2017. Photo: Metropolitan Transportation Authority / Patrick Cashin
context_page_description: The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge is a suspension bridge connecting the New York City boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn. It spans the Narrows, a body of water linking the relatively enclosed Upper New York Bay with Lower New York Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, and is the only fixed crossing of the Narrows. The double-deck bridge carries 13 lanes of Interstate 278, with seven lanes on the upper level and six on the lower level. The span is named for Giovanni da Verrazzano, the first documented European explorer to enter New York Harbor and the Hudson River in 1524.
  Engineer David B. Steinman proposed a bridge across the Narrows in the late 1920s, and subsequent proposals were deferred over the next 20 years. A 1920s attempt to build a rail tunnel under the Narrows was aborted, as was another 1930s plan for vehicular tubes underneath the Narrows. Discussion of a tunnel resurfaced in the mid-1930s and early 1940s, but the plans were again denied. In the late 1940s, urban planner Robert Moses championed a bridge across the Narrows as a way to connect Staten Island with the rest of the city. Various issues delayed the start of construction until 1959.
context_section_description: In 2014, the city began a $1.5 billion reconstruction project on the bridge. At the time, it was expected to take up to 25 years. The first phase, which cost $235 million and lasted until 2017, included replacing the existing upper deck sections with new orthotropic deck sections, removing the divider on the upper deck, and adding a seventh lane on the upper deck, which was to be used as a high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane. The ramps within the Belt Parkway interchange were also rearranged to allow for a ramp to be constructed for the new HOV lane on the upper deck. The parts for this deck were ordered from China because the parts that the MTA required were no longer manufactured in the United States.
  After the upper deck was replaced, parts of the lower deck are to be replaced, but this necessitates the closure of the lower deck during construction. Hence, the MTA opted to replace the upper deck first to add more capacity. The upper level's new HOV lane opened in June 22, 2017. Simultaneously, the MTA dismantled the Staten Island-bound toll booths to speed up westbound traffic. This work was done in advance of the reconstruction of tracks around Penn Station, which severely limited rail service into that station and created more vehicular traffic at crossings to Manhattan. Long-term plans also call for the installation of a bicycle and pedestrian path on the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.
caption: Rebuilding the upper deck
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