9th Street Bridge Project
Work in Progress
The 9th Street Bridge in Brooklyn crosses the Gowanus Canal between Smith Street and Second Avenue. Car traffic on 9th Street is two way, and the vertical-lift bridge occasionally opens to boat traffic on the canal. The N, R and F trains arrive and depart overhead on elevated tracks whose height (the second-tallest platform in the world at 87.5 ft.) was dictated by clearances for tall mast ships. Heading west, train cars proceed on a long curve of track that bends north on its way to re-entering the underground tunnel. Heading east from the Smith Street stop, there's 4th Avenue station. Afterward, the tracks tilt down as they enter the subway system in the hilt of South Slope. Standing on this bridge provides views north towards downtown Brooklyn and south to the elevated Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. At the base of the elevated station on the west end of the bridge, straphangers spill out of the Smith/9th Street entrance into Carrol Gardens, while on the west side, there are industrial workspaces, Old Iron Architectural Salvage, and an entrance to Lowes. A lot of cross currents happen here around the bridge. It's an exciting place to study through the social and visual instrument of photography.
