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Rip Van Winkle Bridge

Greene County, New York, and Columbia County, New York
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Photos 

Rip van winkle

Photo taken by Doug Kerr

Map 

Street Views 

View Uglybridges.com report

Facts 

Overview
Through truss bridge over Hudson River on NY 23 in Catskill
Location
Greene County, New York, and Columbia County, New York
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1935; rehabilitated 1993
Design
Through truss
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 400.0 ft.
Total length: 5,039.9 ft. (1.0 mi.)
Deck width: 33.8 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 12.9 ft.
Approximate latitude, longitude
+42.22333, -73.85083   (decimal degrees)
42°13'24" N, 73°51'03" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
18/594838/4675212 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Hudson South
Inventory numbers
NY 5017820 (New York State bridge identification number)
BH 26118 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 09/2010)
Deck condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 73.1 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 2011)
14,300

Categories 

Built 1935 (1,456)
Built during 1930s (8,551)
Cantilevered (242)
Cantilevered truss (222)
Columbia County, New York (22)
Flared (407)
Greene County, New York (30)
Have street view (9,891)
Hudson River (23)
NY 23 (3)
 Navigable waterway (1,448)
New York (1,767)
Open (28,316)
Owned by bridge authority (139)
Span length 250-500 feet (863)
Through truss (9,209)
Toll (115)
Total length over 2500 feet (587)
Truss (23,573)

Update Log 

  • April 17, 2011: New Street View added by Nathan Holth
  • January 5, 2011: New photos from Ian Ligget
  • September 19, 2010: New photo from Doug Kerr

Sources 

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Comments 

Rip Van Winkle Bridge
Posted April 17, 2011, by Nathan Holth (form3 [at] historicbridges [dot] org)

If anyone happens to look at the satellite imagery or Street View for this bridge and sees the road that starts at the north side of NY-23 and appears to curve down and under and bridge and thinks "wow, I bet you can drive down that road and get awesome views" then think again. Surely some spectacular views of this bridge are available down that road, but nasty signs restrict the road to authorized vehicles only. Nearby toll booths mean "sneaking" down the road is not really possible either. You can get good views from the bridge from the entrance to this drive (afternoon or evening is the best time) but I was extremely disappointed that the public cannot drive down this drive to get additional views beside and below this bridge. This is a spectacular bridge with an extremely long approach system. A beautiful and well preserved old toll house sits on the SW quadrant around the bridge too.