Outerbridge Crossing

The Outerbridge Crossing is a cantilever bridge which spans the Arthur Kill. The "Outerbridge", as it is commonly known, connects Perth Amboy, New Jersey, with Staten Island, New York, and carries NY 440 and NJ 440, each road ending at the respective state border. The Outerbridge Crossing is one of three bridges connecting New Jersey with Staten Island, with the Bayonne Bridge (which also carries NJ 440 and NY 440) in Bayonne and the Goethals Bridge in Elizabeth being the other two.

Description

The bridge was named for Eugenius Harvey Outerbridge, the first chairman of the then-Port of New York Authority and a resident of Staten Island. Rather than call it the "Outerbridge Bridge", the span was labeled a "crossing", but many New Yorkers and others mistakenly assume the name comes from the fact that it is the most remote bridge in New York City and the southernmost crossing in New York state.

The bridge is of a steel cantilever construction, designed by John Alexander Low Waddell and built under the auspices of the Port of New York Authority, now the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which currently operates it. It opened simultaneously with the Goethals Bridge on June 29, 1928. Both spans have similar designs. Neither bridge saw high traffic counts until the opening of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in 1964. Traffic counts on both bridges were also depressed due to the effects of the Great Depression and World War II.