204 The Story of The Bronx 



with Aqueduct Avenue near East 170th Street in the Borough. 

 The top of the bridge forms a way for foot passengers, but no 

 provision has ever been made for vehicular traffic. The bridge 

 crosses the Harlem on fifteen semicircular arches, eight of 

 which in the river are, in accordance with the law, eighty 

 feet span — the remaining seven are fifty feet span. The 

 water was originally carried across in two cast-iron pipes, each 

 three feet in diameter; but these were found to be inadequate, 

 so between i860 and 1864, the side walls of the bridge were 

 raised and a wrought-iron pipe, seven feet, six inches in di- 

 ameter, was laid over the other two, all three being incased in 

 brick masonry. The total cost to the city was $963,428. 

 When the present aqueduct was built, the engineers preferred 

 the alternative plan of 1839, and so carried the water through a 

 tunnel just north of High Bridge and well under the bed of 

 the river. The same plan is to be followed with the aqueduct 

 now building, which is to bring water from the Catskills. 



The first of the really modern passenger bridges to be con- 

 structed was that at Madison Avenue, connecting that high- 

 way of Manhattan with East 138th Street in the Borough. 

 The first bridge was completed and opened to the public in 

 1884, at a cost of $404,000. In its construction, a new plan 

 was employed of elevating it well above the river, so that it 

 was not necessary to open the draw for every passing vessel; 

 and this plan has been carried out with all the later bridges, 

 which allow a still greater clearance above water. The 

 tugs plying upon the river are fitted with short smoke pipes; 

 in consequence, traffic is not delayed and blocked so frequently, 

 as it is necessary to open the draws only for masted vessels. 

 In addition, the draws are opened only between nine o'clock 

 in the morning and five o'clock in the afternoon, in order to 

 prevent delay to the thousands of passengers, on their way 



