Comparing bridges in NYC and the Netherlands

The high fence in n the US is to prevent trying to jump over them to get away from American infrastructure…

Netherlands: "Having a noisy motorway right next to a bicycle path is a necessary evil. Sorry for the inconvenience."
USA: "Sacrificing a few meters of the bridge to cyclists seems unnecessary. Let's inconvenience them."

I love that old boy taking a tow from the lady :)

The US has a serious problem maintaining stuff. Old road and railway bridges look like they're about to fall apart when they're around 100 years old while European bridges can be around the same age and look comparatively newer (still old, but not falling apart). It's not even just infrastructure. When a house is about 100 years old in America, they tear it down. 100 year old homes are normal in other parts of the world.

My main observation: Man, cars are loud! What an unpleasant place to be on a bike (in both countries). A standalone bike/pedestrian bridge would be so much nicer.

And now in the rain. Dutch open tarmac, no spray from cars

What a great idea to compare these two bridges. They look very similar indeed!

The most notable difference is how the actual car traffic is much faster and flowing better the Dutch bridge. That country must really love their cars.

Look at how fast the Dutch cars are moving compared to the American ones. Way less traffic build-up and seems like faster speed limits too. Not just bikes, but cars seem like they would enjoy the Dutch bridge more too.

I think this has less to do with the bridge itself so much as what it connects to. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the bridge leads to stoplights at both sides, while the Dutch one serves more like a highway would in the US. A connecting vein rather than a really long artery.

Dutch bridge: don't fall off
New York bridge: don't jump off

More differences. Cost. Martinus Nijhoffbrug 90 million guilders (or 84,3 million dollar ajusted for inflation) vs 873 million dollar for the Kosciuzko bridge

And also a nice train bridge in the back which compensate for the fewer lanes of the Martinus Nijhoff bridge ;)

The one and main difference I've immédiately noticed : no one else is cycling that US bridge. That and more car traffic (it may not be filmed at a similar time during the day so I'll give that the benefit of the doubt)

Also congrats on being mentioned by NJB ;)

Perhaps something like the Erasmusbrug in Rotterdam is another nice comparison, as it's also in a city environment (and Rotterdam is also quite carcentric, unlike some other well known cities in the Netherlands) and it has both cycling and pedestrian infrastructure.
There are also some differences though:
The Erasmusbrug has the cycling split in two directions, one on either side of the bridge, and pedestrian infrastructure on both sides.
The Erasmusbrug has the suspension cables anchored between the road and the cycling path.
The Erasmusbrug has 2 tram rails (1 per direction) running through its centre between the directions of cars.
The Erasmusbrug only has 2 car lanes per direction.

I use the bridge in NYC frequently and just some points.

1) the bridge is twice as long and twice as high as the bridge in the Netherlands, so the steel expanders aren't as flush I imagine because of the incline, especially on the Brooklyn side where there are many of them on the Brooklyn ramp

2) unfortunately it shares the bridge with a 9 lane highway that's often choked with cars in a city like NYC, especially with the off ramp in Brooklyn being close to the bike ramp, the limited exit capacity makes the traffic back up. I figure the extra traffic makes the bridge look worse faster as often too many drivers will litter into the bike lane unfortunately.

3) the area around the bridge is rather industrialized on both sides. With literal junkyards as you head into Brooklyn and an expansive graveyard on the Queens side. There is the view of Manhattan which is always majestic but there is not much greenery that can help this bridge.

Both bridges are nice in their own ways, though as someone who bikes over it a lot I wish it was closer to the experience in the Netherlands

De Nijhoff brug, Marinus Nijhoff schreef een gedicht over de vorige brug: Ik ging naar Bommel om de brug te zien......
Toch bijna net zo bekend als "Denkend aan Holland...." van Marsman.
Ik kan dat niet ondenken als het over de Nijhoff brug gaat.

Taiwan also has similar lanes on bridges, but it’s for mopeds😮‍💨

One thing I noticed: the bridge in NYC has higher car traffic volumes, terwijl de brug in Nederland minder auto verkeersvolumes heeft.

Why Us infrastructure always looks like they’re falling apart? Where did yall tax money go?

Biggest difference: there are actually other cyclists using the Dutch bridge!
The USA bridge looks unloved and unused in comparison.

Traffic flow is much better in 🇳🇱 💪. En....our guiding rail is i think better attacked to the bridge then these US barriers.

I often bike between Utrecht and Eindhoven and this is by far the most unpleasant part because of the terrible noise. Unfortunately unavoidable because I have to cross the Waal.

You can't really compare a bridge in a tiny country in the Netherlands to a bridge in a huge country like the us

on both bridges you are being poisoned by gigantic loads of air pollution coming out of cars and trucks that cost you 6 months of your life.

Even brand new infrastructure in the USA (I rode in Portland for years) feels significantly uglier and worse quality than even old infrastructure in historical villages of the Netherlands (my new home)

That's the USA for you; can send a man to the moon and back, but can't connect a bridge to a road. (a joke I learned from an American roommate many years ago)

I get the feeling (not only from this video, but also from trips to the US), that in the Netherlands and Europe in general, we pay much more attention to detail. Everything looks so much more friendly and taken care of, while being techically more or less the same. Also maintenance seems better here.

You're a bolder man than I am -- during my 20 years in New York City, I was never compelled to try two wheels out on those treacherous streets.

hoe deprimerender de brug is hoe hoger de hekken.

Tadas Kosciuška was a war engineer and general of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth times. After finishing his studies in France he returned to Lithuania and soon after left to USA (1775) where he fought in USA's war of independence. That's why the bridge is named after him.

I think the main difference would be the access. For the Brooklyn/Queens bridge, I think you would have been glad to have your guide with you to find the right bit of pavement you had to ride on to get to the access ramp, while the bridge over the Waal it flows into a coherent network.

How can a bike path, on a bridge just 5 years old , look so worn and torn ?! 🤔
( or maybe you could say that for bridge as a whole .. it just looks 50 years old ...).

These bridges are surprisingly similar! Nice find.

ze zijn in staat het zo deprimerend mogelijk te maken in NEW YORK

While the comparison is nice. I would also suggest sometime seeing the Tilikum Crossing in Portland, OR. That should be the future of American infrastructure, tram + pedestrian + cycling. Too bad NYC is stuck in the 1980s.

A friend of mine who was in NYC last month had to walk a detour of a couple of kilometers because there were no stairs to the Brooklyn Bridge near the river bank. I think that's another difference compared to bridges in/near cities in the Netherlands.

It's weird how even though the US bridge is newer, it looks a lot more run down and worn out than the Dutch bridge. The tall fences and also the style of fences used also make it look uglier.

Give me our dutch bridge than the bridge in the US!Looks better maintained and better build.

If you want an example of where in the Netherlands cycling is an unpleasant experience (because it's freaking loud!), this bridge comes to mind. Luckily it's "in the middle of nowhere".
And then 20 years later America copies it's concept within it's biggest city.

Cars are riding faster in NL and nearly no truck in NYC

Even een 'Ezelsbruggetje':
Strikt genomen wordt onder een brug een kunstwerk verstaan dat het weg- of spoorverkeer over water voert. Een viaduct is feitelijk een kunstwerk in een verkeers- of spoorweg over een andere verkeer- of spoorweg.
Liever via-via dan Frogger spelen met je leven!

Still this is one of the least used bridges connecting NYC.

Many other bridges are pretty packed not only during rush hour

You can see the expressway exit sign on the Koscuizko Bridge for Vandervoort and Meeker Avenue which is interesting. Whoever redesigned the Koscuizko Bridge seems to be the same architect or inspired by the Nijhoff Bridge. Another example of New Amsterdam's (NYC) Dutch roots.

I noticed some other differences:

- People cycling in NL, nobody on the cycle path in NY
- The Dutch car traffic is flowing much more smoothly and much faster, even though there are fewer lanes. I guess it helps to take some of those drivers out of their cars.
- The state of maintenance of the NY bridge looks like a third world country even though it is supposedly new.