It's So Hot That an Entire New York City Bridge That Opens for Boats Got Jammed

Frank Landymore
·2 min read

Lane Change

When the movies show some unfathomable catastrophe — be it an alien invasion or a globe-spanning natural disaster — it usually takes place in New York. So, in a very on-the-nose omen of sweltering climate doom to come, where else in the world would you expect news of an entire bridge wilting under the heat? That's right: the Big Apple, baby.

As CBS News reports, the structure in question is the Third Avenue Bridge, which spans the Harlem River and links the Bronx and Manhattan. It didn't melt into a puddle, but its fate was still pretty embarrassing: the swing bridge, in all its glory, got stuck wide open due to the unbelievable heat.

On Monday afternoon, temperatures soared to 95 degrees Fahrenheit — the hottest this year, and marking the fourth day in a row that temperatures passed the 90 degree mark. This unrelenting heat, officials said, caused the metal in the structure to expand.

And the timing of this swelling couldn't have been worse. The swing bridge was in the middle of turning around to connect back with the road after letting a ship through — but got stuck before it could finish lining up with the locking mechanism on the Manhattan side. Motorists trying to get places, meanwhile, were left waiting for hours.

Bridge Too Far

You might expect a few hiccups with a 126-year-old bridge — but this is more like it getting caught with its pants down. Officials scrambling to get it working again resorted to getting firefighters to spray it with water to try cool it down.

It wasn't the most elegant solution, but it apparently worked, with the bridge opening again in a few hours. Those few hours, though, resulted in traffic jams that reverberated throughout the Bronx, probably well into the night.

Fortunately, no one was hurt and the damage wasn't serious. But this is likely just a tiny prelude of things to come. Last year was the world's hottest year on record by an astounding margin, and experts warn that our infrastructure, especially power grids, won't be able to withstand the heat. Next time, a heat-induced infrastructure problem might require more than a firehose to fix.

More on the hot climate: Brutal Heat Wave Is Literally Putting People Into Comas

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