Newburgh-Beacon Bridge, Newburgh, NY

Re: The three past pages with the Dutchess, the Orange and the Beacon Ferries

1. We notice that the pictures of the ferries look very old. 2. We notice that there are people and cars on the Dutchess Ferry. 3. We notice there are gates on the boat, and they're on the front and the back of the boat.

1. We wonder how long it took them to build these boats? 2. We wonder if they used the ferry before there was a bridge? 3. We wonder why they didn't just build a bridge before they did? 4. We wonder why the gate is there? 5. We wonder how long these ferries ran? 6. We wonder when they stopped running?

Why and how was the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge made?

We wanted to research the bridge because we found the top part very interesting, and we wanted to know more about it. We wanted to know a lot of things like how many cars drive across it every day.

"Orange" Newburgh Beacon Ferry, 1957 (“Media Monday: Last Trip of the Newburgh-Beacon Ferry, 1963”)

<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gNgtwgMmZoOliYRrAmNWM0_mDtr3fpYh/view?usp=sharing">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gNgtwgMmZoOliYRrAmNWM0_mDtr3fpYh/view?usp=sharing</a>

We spoke with Ms. Moshier, a Civil Engineer and Project Manager who explained the engineering of the bridge. Here is a video of our conversation: She explained how there are some big pieces of equipment called caissons. Workers put them down in the water and then put cement in them. The cement makes the caissons very heavy so that they go down deep into the bed of the river. The workers work in cofferdams which allow them not to get wet. When they are done, they remove the cofferdams, so it is not in the way of the bridge. We asked how they knew how many piers to use, and she said it depends on the length of the span. She said that the engineer works out how many a bridge will need (Charmaine Moshier). Ms. Mosher showed us pictures and diagrams of caissons, and piers so we could understand better when she was explaining how bridges stand firm in water. She also showed us diagrams of cofferdams so we could understand how workers and the place where they are working stay dry in water. After we spoke with her, we felt that we could explain how the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge stands firm in water and how workers worked in, on and under water.

Aidan's &amp; Jared's Video Interview with Ms. Mosher ("Charmaine Moshier")

Ms. Charmaine Moshier Civil Engineer &amp; Project Manager New York City

"Dutchess" Newburgh Beacon Ferry, 1954 (“Media Monday: Last Trip of the Newburgh-Beacon Ferry, 1963”)

Newburgh-Beacon Bridge Collage

We looked at historical and current pictures of the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge. We took our time to record what we noticed and wondered, then tried to find answers. On the NYS Bridge Authority's site, we learned that the North span of the bridge opened on November 2, 1963 and the South span opened on November 1, 1980. The length of the North Span is 7,855 feet and the South Span is 7,789 feet. At first the Bureau of Public Roads decided that they needed 4 lanes. Instead, the North span which was the first span was made with only two lanes because it was going to be too much money to make it wider. There was a problem. By 1964, as much as 25,000 cars caused a traffic jam everyday (“Newburgh-Beacon Bridge | History | Facts”). The real, full name of the bridge is the Hamilton Fish Newburgh-Beacon Bridge. It was given that name in 1997, to honor of Hamilton Fish, one of New York's Governors (“Newburgh-Beacon Bridge | History | Facts”). As of 2019, about 50,000 vehicles go from Orange County towards Dutchess County daily and about 77,000 go from Dutchess County towards Orange County daily (Callahan).

We wanted to find out how many cars the bridge carries nowadays and found out that of all the Bridge Authority’s spans, this bridge is the most traveled in all of New York State. It carries more than 26 million vehicles every year (“Newburgh-Beacon Bridge | History | Facts”).&nbsp;A walking path and path for bicycling were opened in 1981 (“Walking &amp; Biking Across Our Bridges | New York State Bridge Authority”). We think those who worked on the bridge like Mrs. Dolfinger's Uncle Red were risk-takers because they had to work over the water while the bridge was being built. They could have gotten hurt, or they could have actually died, but they did not give up. They kept going until both spans were finished. We respect the workers who made the bridge because of the danger. People who work in cofferdams are in, on and under water. They are risk-takers to work like that. We feel like if they could face such danger then we can face big challenges like graduating and going to middle school. We want to have the same commitment as those who worked on the bridge so that we can do a great job and move up to different grades in school.

"Beacon" Newburgh Beacon Ferry, Date unknown (“Media Monday: Last Trip of the Newburgh-Beacon Ferry, 1963”)

Rainbow paper border

1. We notice there are buildings. 2. We notice the bridge. 3. We notice the Hudson River.

1. We wonder how many cars go across the bridge every day now? 2. We wonder why the bridge is so big?

The Newburgh-Beacon Bridge with Two Spans (Date unknown) (“Newburgh-Beacon Bridge | History | Facts”)

Name of Featured Place: Newburgh-Beacon Bridge

Classroom Teacher: Mrs. Dolfinger/Ms. Shirley

Aidan & Jared's Annotated Bibliography

Caissons in Water (Charmaine Moshier)

This is one of the pictures Ms. Mosher, Civil Engineer showed us to understand how bridges stand still in water. These will help you understand too. Caissons get filled with concrete. It gets heavy and another machine hits it deep into the riverbed and then the bridge will not move (Charmaine Moshier).

The three ferries that we just saw helped to connect people and carried cars towards Orange and Dutchess Counties. The names of the ferries were the "Orange," the "Beacon," and the "Dutchess." On Sunday, November 3, 1963, all the ferries stopped running. That was only one day after the bridge opened (“Newburgh-Beacon Bridge | History | Facts”).&nbsp; There have been so many changes with how people from Orange and Dutchess Counties connect. The ferry service ran for 250 years and is considered the oldest running ferry service in the whole entire country. It was started in 1743 by someone by the name of Alexander Colden. But ferry service really started way before when the Native Americans carried settlers across the river (“Media Monday: Last Trip of the Newburgh-Beacon Ferry, 1963”). The Newburgh-Beacon ferry reopened in 2005. It carries people across the river to catch the train (“Newburgh-Beacon Bridge | History | Facts”).&nbsp;

1. We notice there is a very long ladder. 2. We notice they use wood. 3. We notice two pillars.

1. We wonder what type of materials were used to make the bridge? 2. We wonder what machines were used? 3. We wonder how they kept the piers down?

Newburgh-Beacon Bridge Making the Piers (“N-B-Bridge-Making-The-Piers”)

1. We notice they didn't put the top part of the bridge on yet. 2. We notice the mountains are in the background. 3. We notice the river. 4. We notice cranes. 5. We notice they put it together in small pieces.

Newburgh-Beacon Bridge Construction (“N-B-Bridge-Construction”)

1. We wonder why the train tracks are under the bridge? 2. We wonder why there are stairs and who uses them? 3. We wonder how they made the bridge stand firm in the river? 4. We wonder who worked on the bridge? 5. We wonder how many people worked on the bridge?

1. We notice that the picture is black and white. 2. We notice the top of the bridge looks like a curve. 3. We notice that it's winter.

1. We wonder how long this bridge is? 2. We wonder how high above the water it is? 3. We wonder how many cars went over it back then?

Newburgh-Beacon Bridge 1963 One Span (“N-B-Bridge-1963-OneSpan”)

Aidan's &amp; Jared's Audio Interview with Mrs. Dolfinger ("Sabrina Dolfinger")

Mrs. Sabrina Dolfinger Spec. Ed. &amp; National Board Certified Teacher Horizons-on-the-Hudson Magnet School Newburgh, NY

We spoke to our classroom teacher, Mrs. Dolfinger, who said that her Uncle Red worked on the bridge. Here is a recording of our conversation: What stood out to us is when she said that her Uncle Red woke up really early in the morning and packed his lunch to leave and that there were not many Black people who worked on the bridge. He worked for the Bridge Authority. She also said not many people had a car, but he had one because he had a good paying job. He picked up other people because they did not have cars to drive.

Name

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