Carroll St Bridge

This bridge, on Carroll Street spanning the Gowanus Canal, was built in 1889 by the Brooklyn Department of City Works (when Brooklyn was a city) and is one of two retractile bridges left in New York, and one of four left in the United States. A retractile bridge slides along a track to allow the bridge to move and ships to pass.

The Carroll Street Bridge was featured in a hilarious sequence in the 1985 movie Heaven Help Us, starring Andrew McCarthy and Donald Sutherland.

Carroll Street retains its Belgian blocks on either side of the bridge.

The gates close when the bridge is in an open position.

This view shows the retractile mechanism. The bridge slides open to a perpendicular angle in the middle of the Gowanus Canal until shipping has passed and it slides back again to close.

HOME | LAMPS | SUBWAYS & TRAINS | ADS | TROLLEYS | SIGNS | COBBLESTONES | STREET SCENES | YOU'D NEVER BELIEVE YOU'RE IN NYC | LINKS | ALLEYS | NECROLOGY

Comments? Questions?

E-mail me at erpietri@earthlink.net.

Thanks for visiting the site!

A look at the other side of the bridge.

The sign says, "Any person driving over this bridge faster than a walk will be subject to a penalty of five dollars for each offense."

Judging from the traffic I saw on the bridge the day these pictures were taken, I doubt that regulation has been enforced for quite some time.