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Macomb's Dam Bridge

The Macomb's Dam Bridge carries 155th street across the Harlem River, connecting with Jerome Avenue and the Major Deegan Expressway (I-87). The Bridge also provides access to Yankee Stadium from Manhattan. The Western approach is a Viaduct that passes the former location of the Polo Grounds sports field - home of the New York Giants baseball team.

The bridge was designed by Alfred P. Boller and opened on May 1, 1895. The bridge is a a rim-bearing swing bridge, with a 412-foot draw span that provides two lanes of vehicular traffic and two sidewalks. An additional camelback truss span crosses the Metro-North rail tracks on the east bank. The original steam power and gas lighting were replaced in 1904 by electrical equipment.

The bridge is named after a dam and bridge originally built on the same spot by wealthy landowner Alexander Macomb in 1814. Tidal flows through the dam operated a grist mill. The toll bridge was never profitable and in 1839 a group of disgruntled Westchester County residents, irate about the tolls and obstruction to river traffic, breached a dam by forcing a ship through it. A wooden drawbridge was built in 1861 and named "Central Bridge", a name that is also enshrined on the current third bridge.

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