Old Kosciuszko Bridge dismantled, shipped down creek

NEW YORK (AP) — Workers moved the main span of New York City's old Kosciuszko Bridge down Newtown Creek to the East River on Wednesday.

The slow process started Tuesday when crews used cables to lower the span — 300 feet long, 89 feet wide and 50 feet tall at its highest point — onto two barges.

In total, 26 million pounds of steel will be recycled from the main span and bridge approaches.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt opened the original structure in 1939.

The new bridge, which spans Brooklyn and Queens, opened to traffic in April. A second span will be finished in 2020.

Once the project is fully completed, the Queens-bound bridge will carry five lanes of traffic, and the Brooklyn-bound bridge will carry four lanes. A 20-foot-wide bikeway-walkway will offer what Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office describes as "spectacular views of Manhattan."

The bridge's name honors Tadeusz Kosciuszko, a military engineer from Poland who came to fight for the independence of the American colonies.