Borden Avenue Bridge

New York City is a city of the water, built on a series of islands criss-crossed by rivers and streams. So the city is also populated by almost 800 bridges, from giant spans like the Verrazzano to smaller wooden trestles that might only cross a tiny creek. In the case of the Borden Avenue Bridge, this doesn’t mean it’s boring or unimpressive. This short span lays claim to being one of only four retractile bridges in the United States – that’s a type of retractable bridge that slides out of the way.

Borden Avenue is in Long Island City, specifically on its southern shore, where, instead of the sleek skyscrapers of the gentrified northern section, it’s mostly warehouses, train tracks, and the shadow of the Long Island Expressway. It’s also home to the Dutch Kills – “kill” meaning a small waterway in Dutch – a tributary of Newtown Creek, the waterway that marks the border between Queens and Brooklyn. Stretching its finger into the neighborhood, the Dutch Kills was convenient for many local businesses that hoped to ship their goods by boat, but was at odds with the need for roads and train tracks to also move through the area, necessitating that a bridge be built.

The original wooden span was constructed in 1868, later replaced with an iron swing bridge that would be removed in 1906. The current span was built in 1908 of creosote-treated wood blocks with two trolley tracks down the middle. When the retractile bridge opens, it slides diagonally along a set of tracks on the south side. There’s a small operator’s house on its north side, which is no longer occupied – it’s been years since the bridge last needed to open, and anyone who wishes for it to do so would have to contact the city and wait for someone to show up.