Castleton Bridge

Castleton Bridge
File:Castleton bridges.jpg Foreground: Alfred H. Smith Memorial Bridge; Background: Castleton Bridge. Seen from the west shore, south of the bridges.
Coordinates
Carries	Berkshire Connector
Crosses	Hudson River
Locale	Castleton-on-Hudson, New York
Other name(s)	Castleton-on-Hudson Bridge
Maintained by	NYSTA
Characteristics
Design	Cantilever
Longest span	182 m
Clearance below	135 ft
History
Opened	May 26, 1959 (1959-05-26)
Statistics
Toll	$1.05 (both directions)

The Castleton Bridge is a cantilever truss bridge over the Hudson River, connecting Coeymans, Albany County with Schodack, Rensselaer County in New York. It carries the Berkshire Connector of the New York State Thruway. This bridge is also sometimes called the Castleton-on-Hudson Bridge and is situated in close proximity to the Alfred H. Smith Memorial Bridge, which is used by rail traffic.

The Castleton Bridge is located on the longest section of the New York State Thruway that does not have an Interstate Highway designation, between interchanges 21A (Interstate 87) and B1 (Interstate 90). There is a $0.60 toll each way to cross this bridge. It is not collected at a separate toll barrier, but is rather collected as part of the Thruway's ticketed toll system. It costs at least $1.05 to cross ($1.00 with an E-ZPass discount), by traveling between Interchange 22 and Interchange B1 on the Thruway. It is the northernmost road bridge on the Hudson River with a toll and is the only bridge with a toll in both directions (collected as part of the Thruway's existing ticketed toll system); every bridge south of this has an eastbound-only toll.

File:2014-08-28 14 21 13 View west crossing the Castleton Bridge over the Hudson River.JPG

View while crossing the bridge

History

The bridge was built in the late 1950s, and opened May 26, 1959 to coincide with the opening of the final 6-mile segment of the New York State Thruway's Berkshire Section connecting to the Massachusetts Turnpike.

In May 2007, the bridge carried 14,500 vehicles per day. NYSDOT, FHWA and NYSTA have discussed potential strategies to divert peak hour traffic traveling along Interstate 90 between Interchange 24 and Interchange B1 to the Castleton Bridge to reduce traffic volumes on the Patroon Island Bridge in Albany.

See also

• List of fixed crossings of the Hudson River