Williamsburg Bridge (walkway)
When I lived in New York City in 1997-1998, I walked over the Williamsburg Bridge on my way into Manhattan from my apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. At that time the walkway was a mess, albeit a glorious, funky, and rich mess, and the twenty-minute walk over the East River into the Lower East Side was an adventure. The bridge quickly became an important aspect of my life in NYC, a rich symbol of my gradual adjustment to life away from my home in Southern California. At that time the bridge had been under construction for quite some time, and it would take several more years until the upgrade to the bridge was completed. I knew that the battered, jerry-rigged, and heavily graffitied walkway would eventually disappear.
So, one summer day in 1997, I slowly walked the length of the bridge and painstakingly recorded all of the individual elements of the walkway: wood planks, stone tablets, metal plates, etc. Four hours later and nearly 10,000 entries later, I had a rough map of the walkway.
The walkway was divided into distinct sections based on the predominate material of that particular leg of the walkway surface (for instance, Section 2 was composed primarily of long wooden planks lain horizontally across the walkway, similar to those in an ocean pier). At the beginning of each section, I began counting, from zero, the number of those major elements, and I also noted the occurrence of variations and other interruptions (ridges, overlaid materials, fissures), as well as exactly where in the running count these interruptions occurred (large plywood sheets which covered gaps in planks 33-57, for example, or large metal plates which covered planks 57-65, or a new, unweathered plank that had replaced worn-out plank 1221).
I was initially interested in the mapping as a score for a potential sound/music composition, but now that the walkway is long gone, I see the data more as an archived portrait of the Williamsburg Bridge circa 1997, a recorded snippet of my time there.
Glenn Bach
July 9, 2005
Elegy for the Williamsburg Bridge Walkway (part 1)
1. Ascent (steps)
18 steps
6 platform planks
16 steps
2. Ascent (planks)
0-24 wood planks lengthwise at top
25-34 groups of four wood planks
33-57 plywood covers
57-65 metal plates
102 wood cover
175-184 wood covers
231 wood cover
354 wood cover
354-362 corrugated plate
602-606 wood cover
635-637 wood cover
716-724 corrugated plate
962-963 metal slat
971-973 wood cover
1202-1203 metal slat
1221 tan plank
1323 plank split in half
1439-1447 corrugated plate
1563-1564 metal slat
1669 tan plank
1803-1805 metal slat
1813 tan plank
1866-1918 L-shaped transition (five-seams); 1894 tan plank
1919-1977 three-seams
1978-1986 corrugated plate
2000-2042 two-seams
2043-2102 8 stone tablets
2159-2160 raw planks
2161-2169 corrugated plate
2179-2182 wood cover
2275-2276 metal slat
2308 raw plank
2327-2329 raw plank
2389 plank driven in half by metal ridge
2438 raw plank
2480 raw plank
2483-2485 wood cover
2512-2520 corrugated plate
2565-2567 raw plank
2600 tan plank
2619 plank driven in half by metal ridge
2662 raw plank
2665-2668 wood cover
2732 tan plank
2733 plank driven in half by metal ridge
2739-2740 raw plank
2743 raw plank
2774 raw plank
2783 raw plank
2826-2827 raw plank
2835 raw plank
2845-2853 corrugated plate
2872, 73, 74 raw plank
2878, 79, 80, 81 raw plank
2895 raw plank
2902, 03 raw plank
2911 raw plank
2916 raw plank
2959-2960 metal ridge
3016-3017 metal slat
3043 tan plank
3083 raw plank
3124 raw plank
3133-3141 corrugated plate
3150 raw plank
3160 raw plank
3240 raw plank
3257-3258 metal slat
3279, 80 raw plank
3285 raw plank
3287, 88, 89 raw plank
3305, 06 raw plank
3311 raw plank
3327 raw plank
3329 raw plank
3343 tan plank
3351 tan plank
3463 end of planks
3. Ascent, Mid-Point, Descent (metal panels, five-wide)
1 corrugated plate
1-6 wood shed
15-16 ridge
21-30 (various tiles)
24-25 ridge
30-31 ridge
31-34 fence (3 wide)
34-35 complex ridge
36-37 ridge
34-56 (various tiles)
48-49 ridge
56-57 ridge
57-60 (under scaffolding)
58-59 ridge
70-71 ridge
78-79 ridge
86-87 ridge
94-95 ridge
102-103 ridge
110-111 ridge
134-135 metal slat
138-139 MIDPOINT OF BRIDGE
146-147 metal slat
166-167 ridge
177-186 3 of 5 (north) painted red
190-191 ridge
198-199 ridge
206-207 ridge
218-219 big ridge
220-221 ridge
240-241 big ridge
243-244 metal hump
256-257 ridge
264-265 ridge
272-273 ridge
280 metal corrugated plate
4 poles
4. Descent (stone plates, row of six)
1 (long)
2-3 (medium)
4 (short)
5 metal plate against rail
15-16 ridge in trough
43-44 ridge in trough
67-68 ridge in trough
88-91 wood shed covering 2 1/2 rows metal slat with stone
5. Descent (wood planks)
54-56 wood cover
90-102 stone tablet
103-115 stone tablet
116-129 stone tablet
130-142 stone tablet
143-155 stone tablet
156-168 stone tablet
259-261 metal slat
325-326 metal slat
342-344 wood cover
355 raw plank
386-393 corrugated plate
422-424 wood cover
780-788 corrugated plate
849-850 metal slat
897-901 wood covers
902-914 stone tablet
915-927 stone tablet
928-940 stone tablet
941-953 stone tablet; 942-946 plywood cover
954-966 stone tablet
967-979 stone tablet
980-992 stone tablet
1014 raw plank
1027, 28 tan plank
1065, 66, 67 tan plank
1086, 87 raw plank
1118 raw plank
1127 raw plank
1146 raw plank
1152 raw plank
1155 raw plank
1172-80 corrugated plate
1181, 82, 83, 84 split tan plank
1188 split tan plank
1194 tan plank
1199 raw plank
1204 raw plank
1207 raw plank
1209, 10 raw plank
1212, 13 raw plank
1220, 21 raw plank
1258 raw plank
1309, 10 1/2 split with wedge
1376-77 metal slat
1391 raw plank
1393 raw plank
1422 raw plank
1426 raw plank
1433 tan plank
1435 split tan plank
1440 raw plank
1444, 45 raw plank
1469 tan plank
1490 raw plank
1499 raw plank
1502 tan plank
1508, 09 raw plank
1614, 15 raw plank
1618 raw plank
1619-20 metal slat
1637 raw plank
1659 raw plank
1661 raw plank
1664 raw plank
1680-88 corrugated plate
1689 raw plank
1720 raw plank
1726 raw plank
1731 tan plank
1745 raw plank
1796 raw plank
1804-16 stone tablet 1813 tan plank
1816-17 metal slat
1817-29 stone tablet 1826 tan plank
1842 raw plank
1861 raw plank
1904 raw plank
1909-10 raw plank
1915 raw plank
1918 raw plank
1929 tan plank
1947 raw plank
1955 raw plank
1963 raw plank
1966 raw plank
1968 raw plank
2012 raw plank
2024 raw plank
2043 raw plank
2068, 69 raw plank
2073 raw plank
2074-82 corrugated plate
2083, 84 tan plate
2100 raw plank
2103 raw plank
2106 raw plank
2110 raw plank
2114 raw plank
2194-96 wood cover
2297-2310 stone tablet; 2309-2325 plywood cover
2311-2324 stone tablet; 2323-2332 wood cover
2325-2337 stone tablet
2338-2350 stone tablet
2351-2363 stone tablet
2364-2376 stone tablet; 2372-2380 corrugated plate
2377-2388 stone tablet
2389-2401 stone tablet
2402-2414 stone tablet
2415-2427 stone tablet
2428-2440 stone tablet
2518-20 two wood covers
2775 raw plank
2781 raw plank
2822-35 stone tablet
2836-48 stone tablet
2849-61 stone tablet
2862-74 stone tablet
2875-87 stone tablet
2888-2900 stone tablet
2901-13 stone tablet
3147-55 corrugated plate
3218-19 metal slat
3282-83 metal slat
3403-14 wood cover
3439 raw plank
3577-85 corrugated plate
3647-48 metal slat
3845-46 metal slat
3880-93 stone tablet
3894-3906 stone tablet
3907-20 stone tablet; 3920-21 metal slat
3921-33 stone tablet
3978-79 raw plank
3980-88 corrugated plate
3989 raw plank
4212-13 wood slat
4223-24 metal slat
4355-56 metal slat
4365 raw plank
4415-23 corrugated plate
4487-88 metal slat
4497-98 raw plank
4553-54 metal slat
4559 tan plank
4596-4608 wood cover
4631-43 stone tablet
4644-56 stone tablet
4672-77 plywood cover
4749-50 metal slat
4811-19 corrugated plate
4824-29 wood cover
4872-76 wood cover
4880-81 metal slat
4929 raw plank
4943-49 plywood cover
4979-82 wood cover
5012-13 metal slat
5030-36 wood cover
5078-79 metal slat
5095-5102 corrugated plate
5144-45 metal slat
5169-70 wood cover
5182-88 wood cover
5204-12 corrugated plate
5213-19 wood cover
5261-73 stone tablet; 5271-80 wood cover
5273-74 metal slat
5339-40 metal slat
5386-91 wood cover
5401-09 corrugated plate
5471-72 metal slat
5513-18 wood cover
5544-89 wood cover
5604-09 wood cover
5702-05 wood cover
5728-40 wood cover
5795-5807 wood cover
5831-39 corrugated plate
5920-31 wood cover
5959 wood cover
6. Descent (stone plates, five-wide)
10-11 plywood cover
39-40 metal slat
78-79 big metal slat + corrugated plate + plywood cover
79-80 plywood cover
82 end of stone plates
7. Descent (steps)
landing 4 sets of 2 plates
11steps
landing 4 sets of 2 plates
19 steps
landing 4 sets of 2 plates
4 steps
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.
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