1.
The Bronx
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The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City, within the U. S. state of New York. Since 1914, the Bronx has had the boundaries as Bronx County, a county of New York. The Bronx is divided by the Bronx River into a section in the west, closer to Manhattan. East and west street addresses are divided by Jerome Avenue—the continuation of Manhattans Fifth Avenue, the West Bronx was annexed to New York City in 1874, and the areas east of the Bronx River in 1895. Bronx County was separated from New York County in 1914, about a quarter of the Bronxs area is open space, including Woodlawn Cemetery, Van Cortlandt Park, Pelham Bay Park, the New York Botanical Garden, and the Bronx Zoo in the boroughs north and center. These open spaces are situated primarily on land reserved in the late 19th century as urban development progressed north. The name Bronx originated with Jonas Bronck, who established the first settlement in the area as part of the New Netherland colony in 1639, the native Lenape were displaced after 1643 by settlers. This cultural mix has made the Bronx a wellspring of both Latin music and hip hop. The Bronx, particularly the South Bronx, saw a decline in population, livable housing, and the quality of life in the late 1960s. Since then the communities have shown significant redevelopment starting in the late 1980s before picking up pace from the 1990s until today, the Bronx was called Rananchqua by the native Siwanoy band of Lenape, while other Native Americans knew the Bronx as Keskeskeck. It was divided by the Aquahung River, the origin of Jonas Bronck is contested. Some sources claim he was a Swedish born emigrant from Komstad, Norra Ljunga parish in Småland, Sweden, who arrived in New Netherland during the spring of 1639. Bronck became the first recorded European settler in the now known as the Bronx and built a farm named Emmanus close to what today is the corner of Willis Avenue. He leased land from the Dutch West India Company on the neck of the mainland north of the Dutch settlement in Harlem. He eventually accumulated 500 acres between the Harlem River and the Aquahung, which known as Broncks River or the Bronx. Dutch and English settlers referred to the area as Broncks Land, the American poet William Bronk was a descendant of Pieter Bronck, either Jonas Broncks son or his younger brother. More recent research indicates that Pieter was probably Jonas nephew or cousin, the Bronx is referred to with the definite article as The Bronx, both legally and colloquially. The region was named after the Bronx River and first appeared in the Annexed District of The Bronx created in 1874 out of part of Westchester County
2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
3.
145th Street (Manhattan)
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145th Street is a major crosstown street in the Harlem neighborhood, in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is one of the 15 crosstown streets mapped out in the Commissioners Plan of 1811 that established the street grid in Manhattan. It forms the border of the Sugar Hill neighborhood within Harlem. 145th Street starts on the West Side at the Henry Hudson Parkway, crossing Riverside Drive, Broadway, Amsterdam Avenue, Convent Avenue, the street passes Edgecombe Avenue and Bradhurst Avenue, where 145 Street forms the southern border of Jackie Robinson Park. The Bx19 traverses 145th Street from end-to-end, starting with a loop in Riverbank State Park and heading back to the Bronx over the 145th Street Bridge to the New York Botanical Garden
4.
Harlem River
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The Harlem River is an 8-mile tidal strait flowing between the Hudson River and the East River and separating the island of Manhattan from the Bronx on the New York mainland. The northern stretch, also called the Spuyten Duyvil Creek, has significantly altered for navigation purposes. Originally it curved round the north of Marble Hill, but in 1895 the Harlem River Ship Canal was dug between Manhattan and Marble Hill, and in 1914 the original course was filled in. The Harlem River forms a part of the Hudson estuary system, approximately 18,000 years ago the Laurentide ice sheet receded northward across the continent leaving behind a large escarpment creating the modern day Hudson River. The Harlem River is therefore affected by the actions of the ocean, the ebb and flow of the tides causes the Harlem River’s currents to fluctuate dramatically throughout the day. The effects of the tides have influenced the spread of silts, pollutants, Sherman Creek is a small inlet off the Harlem River at 10th Avenue and Dyckman Street in Inwood. Named for a family settled there in 1807, it was once the site of a number of racing shell clubs boathouses along scullers row. The last, belonging to Fordham University, was lost to suspected arson in 1978, as a name for the several blocks around it, Sherman Creek is something of a historical relic, although many regard it as a part of Washington Heights. The Manhattan Institute held a forum, Saving Sherman Creek, in January 2006 at the Harvard Club of New York, the Daily News has written about the project. There has been an initiative among politicians over the last few years to re-zone this area for residential and commercial use, currently, Con Ed and the City of New York own some of the property in this area. The channel was difficult to navigate, resulting in the construction of the Harlem River Ship Canal in 1895 and this turned the watercourse west approximately where 222nd Street would be in the Bronx, which had the effect of isolating Marble Hill. Almost two decades later, the original creekbed was filled in, physically attaching Marble Hill to the Bronx, another channel was dug in 1937 to the west of the 1895 realignment straightening the Spuyten Duyvil towards the Hudson. It pared off a protruding tip of the Bronx, which was absorbed into Manhattans Inwood Hill Park, home today to its Nature Center. It was in this era that the first crossing on the Harlem was built, at the Old Albany Road in 1693, beginning a history of bridge construction. This came to be called King’s Bridge, where a toll was assessed for access to the island, the shallow waters of the creek along this stretch were thus spanned. The issue of navigability became a topic of early in the river’s history. In 1813, the Macomb family built a dam to power a mill, however it created a millpond and impeded the river’s flow and open navigation. While this condition was tolerated for years, a vessel manned by principal landholders and politicians, including Gouverneur and Lewis Morris
5.
Manhattan
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Manhattan is the most densely populated borough of New York City, its economic and administrative center, and the citys historical birthplace. The borough is coextensive with New York County, founded on November 1,1683, Manhattan is often described as the cultural and financial capital of the world and hosts the United Nations Headquarters. Many multinational media conglomerates are based in the borough and it is historically documented to have been purchased by Dutch colonists from Native Americans in 1626 for 60 guilders which equals US$1062 today. New York County is the United States second-smallest county by land area, on business days, the influx of commuters increases that number to over 3.9 million, or more than 170,000 people per square mile. Manhattan has the third-largest population of New York Citys five boroughs, after Brooklyn and Queens, the City of New York was founded at the southern tip of Manhattan, and the borough houses New York City Hall, the seat of the citys government. The name Manhattan derives from the word Manna-hata, as written in the 1609 logbook of Robert Juet, a 1610 map depicts the name as Manna-hata, twice, on both the west and east sides of the Mauritius River. The word Manhattan has been translated as island of hills from the Lenape language. The United States Postal Service prefers that mail addressed to Manhattan use New York, NY rather than Manhattan, the area that is now Manhattan was long inhabited by the Lenape Native Americans. In 1524, Florentine explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano – sailing in service of King Francis I of France – was the first European to visit the area that would become New York City. It was not until the voyage of Henry Hudson, an Englishman who worked for the Dutch East India Company, a permanent European presence in New Netherland began in 1624 with the founding of a Dutch fur trading settlement on Governors Island. In 1625, construction was started on the citadel of Fort Amsterdam on Manhattan Island, later called New Amsterdam, the 1625 establishment of Fort Amsterdam at the southern tip of Manhattan Island is recognized as the birth of New York City. In 1846, New York historian John Romeyn Brodhead converted the figure of Fl 60 to US$23, variable-rate myth being a contradiction in terms, the purchase price remains forever frozen at twenty-four dollars, as Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace remarked in their history of New York. Sixty guilders in 1626 was valued at approximately $1,000 in 2006, based on the price of silver, Straight Dope author Cecil Adams calculated an equivalent of $72 in 1992. In 1647, Peter Stuyvesant was appointed as the last Dutch Director General of the colony, New Amsterdam was formally incorporated as a city on February 2,1653. In 1664, the English conquered New Netherland and renamed it New York after the English Duke of York and Albany, the Dutch Republic regained it in August 1673 with a fleet of 21 ships, renaming the city New Orange. Manhattan was at the heart of the New York Campaign, a series of battles in the early American Revolutionary War. The Continental Army was forced to abandon Manhattan after the Battle of Fort Washington on November 16,1776. The city, greatly damaged by the Great Fire of New York during the campaign, became the British political, British occupation lasted until November 25,1783, when George Washington returned to Manhattan, as the last British forces left the city
6.
New York City
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
7.
New York City Department of Transportation
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The New York City Department of Transportation is the agency of the government of New York City responsible for the management of much of New York Citys transportation infrastructure. Polly Trottenberg is the current Commissioner of the Department of Transportation, the Department of Transportations responsibilities include day-to-day maintenance of the citys streets, highways, bridges and sidewalks. The Department of Transportation is also responsible for installing and maintaining the citys street signs, traffic signals, DOT supervises street resurfacing, pothole repair, parking meter installation and maintenance, and the management of a municipal parking facilities. DOT also operates the Staten Island Ferry, DOT is also responsible for oversight of transportation-related issues, such as authorizing jitney van services and permits for street construction. DOT also advocates for safety issues, including promotion of pedestrian. Its regulations are compiled in title 34 of the New York City Rules, the agencys portfolio includes most of the East River and Harlem River bridges, as well as smaller bridges throughout the city. Other agencies that operate road bridges in New York include the MTA, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the New York State DOT
8.
Macombs Dam Bridge
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The Macombs Dam Bridge spans the Harlem River in New York City, connecting the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx near Yankee Stadium. It is the third-oldest bridge in New York City and, along with the 155th Street Viaduct, was designated a New York City Landmark in January 1992, the bridge is operated and maintained by the New York City Department of Transportation. The bridge is located 3.2 miles from the mouth of the Harlem River and it consists of a swing bridge over the Harlem River decorated with four finials and with stone end piers with shelter houses, and a camelback span over the railroad tracks on the Bronx side. The main swing span is 408 feet long and provides two shipping channels with 150 feet of horizontal clearance, when closed the bridge provides 25 feet of vertical clearance. The bridges total length is 2,540 feet, the current bridge is the most recent of several bridges in the area, the first of which – along with the since-demolished lock-and-dam system – opened in 1814. The wooden Central Bridge followed in 1861, to be replaced by the current bridge, which was called the Central Bridge. However the name never stuck, and the old name Macombs Dam Bridge remained in popular use, construction began in 1890 and was completed in 1895 at a total cost of $1.3 million. The bridge, which was designed by consulting engineer Alfred Pancoast Boller, the New York City Department of Transportation began a $145 million renovation of this bridge in 1999. It has four lanes for traffic, and a sidewalk on each side for pedistrians. At the western end of the bridge is a steel viaduct leading to the intersection of 155th Street and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard. At the eastern end, an approach road leads to Jerome Avenue. Immediately to the north of the bridge was another swing bridge along which the now-demolished 9th Avenue El reached the Bronx and that bridge was demolished sometime after this section of the 9th Avenue El ceased operation in 1958. For 2011, the NYCDOT, which operates and maintains the bridge, the Macombs Dam Bridge carries the Bx6 bus route operated by MTA New York City Transit. The routes average weekday ridership is 21,973, list of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in New York Notes Official website Historic American Engineering Record No
9.
Madison Avenue Bridge
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The Madison Avenue Bridge is a four lane swing bridge that crosses the Harlem River in New York City, connecting Madison Avenue in Manhattan with East 138th Street in the Bronx. It was designed by Alfred P. Boller and built in 1910 to replace, the bridge is operated and maintained by the New York City Department of Transportation. For 2011, the NYCDOT reported a daily traffic volume in both directions of 41,423, having reached a peak of 49,487 in 2002. The bridge is part of the course for the annual New York City Marathon, the average weekday ridership of the Bx33 bus route is 3,216. The average weekday ridership on the BxM3 bus route is 718, the average weekday ridership on the BxM4 bus route is 414. Prior to June 27,2010, the BxM4 was known as the BxM4A, notes Madison Avenue Bridge - historic overview NYC DoT Madison Avenue Bridge
10.
Swing bridge
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Small swing bridges as found over canals may be pivoted only at one end, opening as would a gate, but require substantial underground structure to support the pivot. In its closed position, a bridge carrying a road or railway over a river or canal, for example. When a water vessel needs to pass the bridge, road traffic is stopped, as this type requires no counterweights, the complete weight is significantly reduced as compared to other moveable bridges. Where sufficient channel is available to have individual traffic directions on each side, the central support is often mounted upon a berm along the axis of the watercourse, intended to protect the bridge from watercraft collisions when it is opened. This artificial island forms an excellent construction area for building the movable span as the construction will not impede channel traffic, for a symmetrical bridge, the central pier forms a hazard to navigation. Asymmetrical bridges may place the pivot near one side of the channel, where a wide channel is not available, a large portion of the bridge may be over an area that would be easily spanned by other means. A wide channel will be reduced by the pivot and foundation. If struck from the water near the edge of the span, buna River Bridge, in Shkodra, Albania. Puente de la Mujer, an asymmetrical cable-stayed span, the Sale Swing Bridge, Sale, Victoria, Australia. Dunalley Bridge, Dunalley, Tasmania Still in use, Belize City Swing Bridge, Belize City, Belize. Oldest such bridge in Central America and one of the few manually operated swing bridge in world still in operation, the longest swing bridge span is 340 metres, by the El Ferdan Railway Bridge across the Suez Canal. Le pont tournant rue Dieu, across the Canal Saint-Martin in Paris, is a location in the 1938 film Hôtel du Nord. Kalpaka Tilts, Liepāja, connecting the city with the former Russian/Soviet port Karosta, the Abtsewoudsebrug in Delft, close to the Technische Universiteit Delft, is a bridge of this type. 52°0′5. 71″N 4°21′50. 10″E Theres another one on the channel between Ghent and Terneuzen at Sas Van Gent, many inner cities have swing bridges, since these require less street space than other types of bridges. Kopu Bridge, Waihou River, near Thames, New Zealand A swing bridge at the Gatun Locks provides the only road passage over the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal and this is a small bridge that swings out from each side. Another larger swing bridge at the Miraflores Locks is on the Pacific side but is used, having been supplanted by the Bridge of the Americas. Crosskeys Bridge - carries the A17 road over the River Nene in Lincolnshire Folkestone Harbour railway station - railway bridge on the branch line, goole railway swing bridge Glasson Dock swing bridge Hawarden Railway Bridge - rail. Many are manually operated, carrying only farm tracks, but a significant number carry road traffic and are mechanised for boater operation, manchester Ship Canal at Latchford, Stockton Heath and Lower Walton in Warrington, and also slightly further west at Moore
