Monday afternoon’s extreme high temperatures caused the Third Avenue Bridge, which connects Manhattan and the Bronx, to malfunction and stay stuck open for several hours, leaving many motorists stranded for a while and forcing them to take alternative routes. The mishap began at about 2 p.m. and snarled traffic in the South Bronx for a couple of hours.
The swing drawbridge goes over the Harlem River and provides one-way travel from the Bronx into East Harlem. It also pivots open and remains parallel to the roadways to allow passage for large marine vessels.
As of Monday afternoon, the metal locking devices had expanded due to the extreme temperatures and wouldn’t line up with the base of the bridge on the land. This caused a malfunction and prevented the bridge from being secured for safe transit. Traffic had to be rerouted to the nearby Madison Avenue Bridge and the Tri-Boro Bridge.
“It usually takes me 10 to 15 minutes to make this trip,” said one motorist. “I was stuck in traffic for almost two hours.”
The bridge remained locked in the open position as New York Department of Transportation (DOT) officials sought solutions. Two fire boats from the Marine Unit of the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) arrived quickly and sprayed the bridge’s hydraulics system and its connecting portions with water in an attempt to cool the steel structure so the linking parts could contract.
Three and a half hours later, at about 6:30 p.m., the working parts had cooled off enough to link back together in a synchronized manner so the bridge could be reopened safely for vehicular traffic. A DOT spokesperson said the incident is a natural occurrence for movable bridges on hot days due to steel expansion.