Tag: roosevelt island

Over the Roosevelt Island Bridge

The Humble Fabulist1 Comment

Crossing on foot the Roosevelt Island Bridge doesn’t take long; it is one of the shortest ones – around 2,880 feet or 880 metres only – in the area, connecting Roosevelt Island with Astoria. It is the only way to reach the island by car or on foot (without using the aerial tram or subway) but we only met a couple of vehicles and people. Crossing it proved to be an excellent idea, following the underwhelming experience in Socrates Sculpture Park. The industrial views and welcome quietude of an early afternoon more than made up for it.

August 26th, 2017

The three chimneys

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of the Ravenswood Generating Station, or Big Allis to friends. Actually there are four, but only three are visible from this angle.

When it opened in 1965, it was the “world’s first million kilowatt unit…big enough to serve 3.000.000 people”. In today’s figures, it has the capacity of providing around 20% of the electricity consumed by New York City.

At the time of its installation, it was also the world’s largest steam energy generating facitly. Today, when necessary, steam is supplied from the plant to the Manhattan steam system via the Ravenswood tunnel which runs under the East River.

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Taken from the John Finley Walk on the Upper East Side. The trees and buildings left and right are actually closer, on Roosevelt Island; Big Allis is located further away on Vernon Blvd and 36th Avenue, in Queens.

September 17th, 2016