Newtown Creek
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Newtown Creek | |
|---|---|
| The Creek in Long Island City | |
| Origin | (Grand Avenue and 47th Street) |
| Mouth | East River at (2nd Street and 54th Avenue in Long Island City) |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Length | 3.5 mi (6 km) |
| Mouth elevation | 0 |
| Avg. discharge | 59.3 square feet (5.5 m²)/second |
Newtown Creek, is a 3.5 miles (5.6 km) estuary that forms part of the border between Brooklyn and Queens, New York City, New York, United States.
It derives its name from New Town (Nieuwe Stad), which was the name for the Dutch and the British settlement in what is Elmhurst, Queens.
Contents |
[edit] Course
Its waterfront, and that of its tributaries English Kills, Dutch Kills, and Maspeth Creek, are heavily industrialized. It is one of the most polluted waterways in North America, and is the site of the Greenpoint Oil Spill, the United States' largest underground oil spill.
It starts near the intersection of 47th Street and Grand Avenue on the Brooklyn-Queens border at the intersection of the East Branch and East Branch and English Kills.[1]. It empties into the East River at (2nd Street and 54th Avenue in Long Island City) opposite Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan at 26th Street.
The creek has no natural waterflows. Its outgoing flow of 14,000 million gallons/year consists of sewage overflow, rainwater runoff, raw domestic sewage, and industrial wastewater. This outflow of 59.3 square feet (5.5 m²)/second is more than the outflow of the Missouri River at Kansas City, Missouri.[2]. The estuary nature of the creek means that it is largely stagnant.
[edit] History
Before the nineteenth century urbanization and industrialization of the surrounding neighborhoods, Newtown Creek was a longer, wider and shallower tidal waterway, wide enough that it contained islands. It drained a large part of Bushwick. During the second half of the nineteenth century it became a major commercial waterway, bounded along most of its length by retaining walls. The shipping channel is maintained by dredging. The Montauk Branch of the Long Island Railroad, mainly a freight line, runs along the right bank. A liquid natural gas port is under construction on the left bank, near Greenpoint Avenue.
[edit] Bridges
Newtown Creek is crossed by the Pulaski Bridge, the J. J. Byrne Memorial Bridge, and the Kosciuszko Bridge. Several smaller bridges take roads over its tributaries. All except the Kosciuszko (which replaced the Penny Bridge at the foot of Meeker Avenue) are drawbridges.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ [http://newtowncreekalliance.org/history_a.htm
- ^ Based on claim of discharge of 14,000 million gallons/year it out (14,000,000,000 and breaking it out based on 7.48 gallons=1 CF and then 31,536,000 seconds in a year (60min X 60sec X 24 Hours X 365 Days)
[edit] External links
- Pictures of the Newtown Creek crossing
- Riverkeeper
- Newtown Creek Alliance
- Greenpoint v. Exxon
- Greenpoint Waterfront Association for Parks and Planning
- Green Brooklyn: Newtown Creek Category
- PBS: P.O.V.'s Borders: The Invisible Creek
- Forgotten New York -- A boat ride down Newtown Creek -- photos and history
