HAER Report

Bridge Nos. 17 and 18

Joseph Saso of Yonkers submitted the lowest of thirteen bids in September 1921 and was awarded the contract for two bridges over the Bronx River north of Tuckahoe Road. Bridge No. 17 was a reinforced-concrete beam and slab bridge having a 45' span. The bridge was faced with wooden beams and rubble. Bridge No. 18 was the same type of construction, but was faced with a granite arch ring and had a span of 40'. The bridges were approximately 95 percent completed by the end of 1922.(215)

Bridge Nos. 22, 23, and 24

Ten bids were submitted in May 1921 for bridges number 22, 23, and 24 over the Bronx River between Scarsdale and Crestwood. Bridge No. 22 was south of Leewood Drive; No. 23 was located north of Leewood Drive; and No. 24 was south of Harney Road. All the bridges had a 35' span and were constructed of reinforced-concrete beams and slabs. Bridges Nos. 22 and 23 were faced with rubble and wood-beams, and Bridge No. 24 was faced with a granite arch ring and rubble. The bridges were designed by Delano & Aldrich. Bridge No. 23 was the first to be designed using the wood facing. Garofano Construction Company of Mount Vernon was awarded the contract for $42,662.88, even though Downer had expressed some reservations about the firm’s competence. He reported that a footbridge the company built for the BPC had been a troublesome project, but that Garofano had eventually completed the job in a satisfactory manner. Downer recommended that the company be awarded the contract if it could demonstrate it had the necessary resources to complete the work. Construction was completed on May 25, 1922.(216)

Additional Bridges

In addition to these bridges, the BPC issued separate contracts to install the granite arch rings and coping stones for the Swain Street and Palmer Road undercrossings. Pasquale Maresca of New York submitted the lowest bids for both projects, agreeing to prices of $3,371.00 and $5,091,40 respectively. A similar contract for stone work on Bridge No. 9-B, located north of Broad Street, was awarded to Marco Castignoli of Yonkers. Domenico Bianco of Tuckahoe completed the stonework on Bridge No. 13 north of DeWitt Avenue at a cost of $2,123,12.

Both the Palmer Road and Swain Street Bridges were designed by Stoughton. The BPC had originally planned to carry the parkway drive over Palmer Road because the plan for an undercrossing was not feasible with conventional arch-bridge technology. To carry the drive under Palmer Road would place the roadway 3' below the Bronx River’s high water mark and leave no adequate provision for drainage. The introduction of Hayden’s rigid-frame bridge design apparently made it possible for the BPC to change its plan to provide an undercrossing at Palmer Road.(217) With the completion of these structures, the number of finished bridges on the parkway drive totaled eighteen at the end of 1922. The other bridges were Bridge No. 9-A north of Broad Street, Bridge Nos. 29 and 30 that carried the drive over the Fox Meadow Brooks between Scarsdale and Hartsdale, and Bridge No. 32 next to the tennis courts at White Plains.(218)