Temporary City Island Bridge Tested After Residents Raise Concerns

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The Department of Transportation used fire trucks and other heavy equipment in a series of tests to determine the structural integrity of a temporary bridge connecting City Island to the rest of the Bronx.

The temporary bridge was put in place while a new bridge is being built.

Some residents are concerned about whether the bridge can stand up to the weight of their vehicles when it goes into use Friday. There is only one way to off the island without using a boat, so residents are particularly concerned about the summer months when cars are lined up in stand still traffic on the bridge, CBS2's Meg Baker reported.

"This temporary bridge is not going to be substantial enough or shaped in proper way to handle a kind of traffic that is common on City Island," Barbara Dolensek, a City Island resident, said.

The steel on the side of the bridge bucked from weight as an asphalt truck was paving the roadway in late September.

"People, they're skeptical given what happened with the bridge in the past and the recent failure," John Doyle, of the City Island Civic Association, said. "But we just did the tests and hopefully puts some people's minds at ease."

The old bridge was opened in July of 1901 -- less than 20 years after the Brooklyn Bridge opened. Back then, elephants were brought onto the Brooklyn Bridge to prove to residents it was safe to cross.

The Departent of Transportation told CBS2 in an email that the test was satisfactory. However, they did not provide details on how the weight of the trucks used in the test compared to the weigh of bumber-to-bumper traffic.

"We're all on a bed of pins and needles," City Island resident Claudia Deich said in September. "It's not fun to think that your bridge might fall from under you and your car ends up swimming."

The bridge is set to open at midnight on Friday.

In:
• The Bronx
• City Island