Robert F. Kennedy Bridge
bridge in New York City
The Robert F. Kennedy Bridge (RFK Bridge; or more commonly referred to by locals by its name prior to 2008, the Triborough Bridge, or Triboro) is a complex of bridges and elevated expressway viaducts in New York City. The bridges link the boroughs of Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx. The viaducts cross Randalls and Wards Islands, previously two islands and now joined by landfill.
The RFK Bridge, a toll bridge, carries Interstate 278 (I-278) as well as the unsigned highway New York State Route 900G. It connects with the FDR Drive and the Harlem River Drive in Manhattan, the Bruckner Expressway (I-278) and the Major Deegan Expressway (Interstate 87) in the Bronx, and the Grand Central Parkway (I-278) and Astoria Boulevard in Queens. The three primary bridges of the RFK Bridge complex are:
The vertical-lift bridge over the Harlem River, the largest in the world, connecting Manhattan Island to Randalls Island (all within Manhattan)
The truss bridge over Bronx Kill, connecting Randalls Island to the Bronx
The suspension bridge over Hell Gate (a strait of the East River), connecting Wards Island to Astoria in Queens
These three bridges are connected by an elevated highway viaduct across Randalls and Wards Islands and 14 miles (23 km) of support roads. The viaduct includes a smaller span across the former site of Little Hell Gate, which separated Randalls and Wards Islands. Also part of the complex is a grade-separated T-interchange on Randalls Island, which sorted out traffic in a way that ensured that drivers paid a toll at only one bank of tollbooths. The tollbooths have since been removed, and all tolls are collected electronically at the approaches to each bridge.
The bridge complex was designed by Allston Dana with the collaboration of Othmar Ammann and architect Aymar Embury II, and has been called "not a bridge so much as a traffic machine, the largest ever built". The American Society of Civil Engineers designated the Triborough Bridge Project as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1986.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Robert F. Kennedy Bridge” is bridge in New York City. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Robert, Kennedy and Bridge, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “bridge in New York City” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q125450. VIAF identifies the subject as 315530020. The Library of Congress control number is sh93007598. Authority coordinates are 40.780, -73.927. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2008 and 1986.
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This entry incorporates text from “Robert F. Kennedy Bridge” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.