The Robert F. Kennedy Bridge 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 Queens–Wards Island span of the bridge, over the East River
The East River suspension bridge, pictured in 2021
The Harlem River lift bridge in 2007
Bronx Kill crossing in 2008
Randalls and Wards Islands
Randalls Island and Wards Island are conjoined islands, collectively called Randalls and Wards Island, in New York City. Part of the borough of Manhattan, is separated from Manhattan Island by the Harlem River, from Queens by the East River and Hell Gate, and from the Bronx by the Bronx Kill. A channel named Little Hell Gate separated Randalls Island to the north from Wards Island to the south; the channel was filled by the early 1960s. A third, smaller island, Sunken Meadow Island, was located east of Randalls Island and was connected to it in 1955.
Looking southwest; Randalls Island is in the foreground and Wards Island is behind it. Roosevelt Island and Manhattan can be seen in the background.
Detail from NOAA Chart 12339 showing Negro Point
Looking west along Little Hell Gate Inlet, a remnant of the former Little Hell Gate strait between the two islands, in 2008
The New York House of Refuge youth detention center in 1855