Photos: Goodbye Guider Ave Bridge


by on Jun 22nd, 2010

The Guider Avenue / East 8th Street bridge is almost entirely gone, with only a couple of supports and steel spans remaining. If you haven’t noticed, there have been late-night/early-morning lane closures since the beginning of the month. Construction began in February to remove the overpass, and they’ll soon begin building a whole new structure.

Related posts

Tags: , , , , , , ,

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

    That's unfortunate. It was a rather unique little bridge. A fun pedestrian experience. And whatever takes its place will be ugly and uninspired because they didn't have a clue about how special that was. And the people who make the decisions to demolish bridges couldn't care less.

    They would have torn down the High Bridge in upper Manhattan if they have gotten away with it. That's the oldest bridge in NYC connecting two boroughs. At one point such a fuss was made about its deteriorating state that it was decided that it would be restored to its original beauty.

    Sadly, no one made a fuss about the possibility of losing the Guider Avenue Bridge.

  • http://www.mybrooklyn.com shamil benyaminov

    please explain what was so unique about that bridge, last time i drove on that shitty ramp my car experiencing turbulence

  • Supafly10579

    I don't think that bridge was anything special. Especially knowing about the rat's using it as a breeding colony.

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

    It wasn't taken care of. But the planners of the highway took great care in designing the overpasses.

    The rats were not the result of the building of the bridge. That's totally irrelevant.

  • http://www.njluxurymotors.com Arthur Borko

    I never thought there was anything particularly unique about the design or construction of the Guilder Ave Bridge. I never noticed any sort of art or interesting things bout it. It wasn't wide enough to meet federal standards too, that combined with the constant falling apart of the actual road because of its age spelled its death knell.

    You know, I wonder if we can get any information on the design of the new bridge. If it's THAT boring and un-inspired maybe we can spuce it up :-p.

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

    It was somewhat unique for its time. Rather than build a simple exit ramp they chose to build a pedestrian passageway as well. Doing so required an extender section to be built. That in itself wouldn't be particularly more than of marginal interest except for one thing, the pedestrian path wasn't necessary. When the highway was planned there were few houses on the north side of the Belt Parkway. Even more interestingly there was a bridge crossing Coney Island Avenue, one block away. Both bridges end at the same place. Furthermore, they built a staircase that was quite attractive when it had been properly maintained. I doubt that whatever they plan to replace that will look as good when new.

  • evil_clown

    good bye bridge dont come back..80)

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

    This isn't the best shot photo of the pedestrian walkway but when I tried to shoot in the summer the leaves on the trees ruined the effect I wanted. Should have taken another winter photo, I guess.

    Can't anymore.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001/3882605…

  • http://www.njluxurymotors.com Arthur Borko

    Ah. Well, you know Lisanne, I agree with you wholeheartedly that we need to
    preserve the past. But…sometimes it's not exactly….hrm, impressive is
    not the word I'm looking for…it's not big enough maybe? We can't preserve
    all of history, we'd have no room for the future. So, I don't think this
    bridge deserved to be preserved, but the knowledge of its history, it's
    story and photos should. You've got a handle on that already, just gotta
    record it for future generations.

  • http://www.njluxurymotors.com Arthur Borko

    Weren't those stairs on the hill leading to the bridge? The Bridge itself is the part that hangs over the highway.

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

    Yes it is. But I do believe that they took this down as well.

    But maybe I should check that to be sure. I'd be quite happy to have assumed wrong.

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

    Well, as of this moment the staircases are still there. The bridge structure itself was not unique. If they preserve the stairs that will be fine.

    The photos, OTOH, could have been better. It's drizzling now.

  • http://www.njluxurymotors.com Arthur Borko

    Which side is it on? The North side seems to be just fenced off. The South
    side is covered in construction equipment and trailers at the base.

  • PayPaul

    I guess the RAT'S going to have to go elsewhere now. It takes more than one rat to breed. The bridge was another point of egress across the barrier of the Belt Parkway. There needs to be more bridges across that obstacle to walking people.

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

    The north side staircase is the one that leads to the bridge. The south side staircase. which is also still standing, starts from a path on the hill.

    I squeezed past the fence on the north side to get some photos but they came out a bit fuzzy.

    On the north side near East 7th Street there is some construction equipment as well.

  • evil_clown

    good bye bridge dont come back..80)

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

    This isn't the best shot photo of the pedestrian walkway but when I tried to shoot in the summer the leaves on the trees ruined the effect I wanted. Should have taken another winter photo, I guess.

    Can't anymore.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001/3882605…

  • http://www.njluxurymotors.com Arthur Borko

    Ah. Well, you know Lisanne, I agree with you wholeheartedly that we need to
    preserve the past. But…sometimes it's not exactly….hrm, impressive is
    not the word I'm looking for…it's not big enough maybe? We can't preserve
    all of history, we'd have no room for the future. So, I don't think this
    bridge deserved to be preserved, but the knowledge of its history, it's
    story and photos should. You've got a handle on that already, just gotta
    record it for future generations.

  • http://www.njluxurymotors.com Arthur Borko

    Weren't those stairs on the hill leading to the bridge? The Bridge itself is the part that hangs over the highway.

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

    Yes it is. But I do believe that they took this down as well.

    But maybe I should check that to be sure. I'd be quite happy to have assumed wrong.

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

    Well, as of this moment the staircases are still there. The bridge structure itself was not unique. If they preserve the stairs that will be fine.

    The photos, OTOH, could have been better. It's drizzling now.

  • http://www.njluxurymotors.com Arthur Borko

    Which side is it on? The North side seems to be just fenced off. The South
    side is covered in construction equipment and trailers at the base.

  • PayPaul

    I guess the RAT'S going to have to go elsewhere now. It takes more than one rat to breed. The bridge was another point of egress across the barrier of the Belt Parkway. There needs to be more bridges across that obstacle to walking people.

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

    The north side staircase is the one that leads to the bridge. The south side staircase. which is also still standing, starts from a path on the hill.

    I squeezed past the fence on the north side to get some photos but they came out a bit fuzzy.

    On the north side near East 7th Street there is some construction equipment as well.