As this sign at the erstwhile JFK Commuter Plaza…otherwise known as “Queens Plaza”, proclaims, the Queensboro Bridge was “renamed” for popular NYC three-term mayor from 1977-1989, Edward I. Koch, in 2011, with the official name now “Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge.” But wait…Manhattanites especially have called it the “59th Street Bridge” for decades after its opening in 1909. There’a a lot of reasons to have liked Koch, as he presciently had his own tombstone erected in Uptown Trinity Church, knowing he was unmarried and childless and took no chances on a memorial stone.
New York City and state have a history of renaming infrastructure for which no change was ever asked for, and have mostly been ignored since, such as the Robert F. Kennedy Triboro Bridge, Hugh Carey (Brooklyn-Battery) Tunnel, Mario Cuomo (Tappan Zee) Bridge. In 1945, Fiorello LaGuardia got the ball rolling when 6th Avenue was renamed Avenue of the Americas, for the Organization of American States, and its lampposts got a set of metal country medallions that quickly rusted and were mostly removed during a renovation in the early 1990s. In 2022, a new set of medallions were installed.
Can you think of any other renamings that have been ignored? Comments are open.
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6/12/25
14 comments
When the IRT (remember calling it that?) opened the line to Corona, and later Flushing, the stations in Woodside were Rawson Street, Lowery Street and Bliss Street. Although those street names were replaced by numbers (33rd, 40th and 46th Streets) in the 1920’s, locals continued to call them by the old names. I clearly recall my grandmother refusing to call them by their numbered names. Over time, those folks who call the shots left the names and the stations are “dual named”. Similarly, on the IND (also something from the past) identifies a station in Long Island City as 21st Street – Ely Avenue. Some local folks still use the name, not the number.
According to family lore, my great grandfather’s construction company was involved in building this bridge
Do you lnow where I coulf finf verification of this?
It may be because I’m old, but I still call it the Interboro Parkway, instead of the Jackie Robinson. Perhaps the only one that stuck 100% was the FDR Drive (East River Drive).
Are the Harlem renamings ignored? Malcolm X = Lenox; Adam C. Powell = 7th; Frederick Douglass = 8th; MLK = 125th St.
I still think of the Jackie Robinson Parkway as the Interboro.
Jackie Robinson Pkwy. I still call it the Interboro!
The defunct musical act once known as Simon & Garfunkle, althought they were both born & raised in Queens, subtitled one of their early songs “The Fifty Ninth St Bridge Song” (“Feeling Groovy”) for reasons known only to themselves.
My favorite one is the onramp to the Brooklyn Bridge thats named
after someone.Wow,what a honor.Pretty soon they’re going to be naming
bus stops and subway bathrooms after people.
Sad story. A kid, Ari Halberstam, was killed there in 1994.
Manhattan’s West Side Highway is an example where New Yorkers have generally ignored both the original and successor names and continue to use the original but unofficial moniker. Originally, the elevated highway between the Battery and 72nd Street was officially the Miller Highway, in honor of the Manhattan borough President (Julius Miller) who was in office when the highway was built. After the original highway was razed in the 1980s, a surface arterial boulevard became the new West Side Highway, but it was officially dubbed the Joe DiMaggio Highway. Neither name has been in popular use; to this day it is the West Side Highway.
Above 72nd Street the route has officially been the Henry Hudson Parkway, a more common designation, even though many drivers still call the entire route the West Side Highway.
Regarding the Triborough Bridge, it’s officially been the RFK Bridge since 2008. I never use that term and continue to call it the Triborough, because I’ve driven over it close to one thousand times. Most radio traffic reports call it the RFK-Triborough. I also have negative opinions of both RFK senior and junior and thus continue to use the original name, but those feelings don’t need to be discussed in this forum.
Idlewild Airport changed to John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK). This name seems to have replaced the old name for most. I still call all the bridges, tunnels and roads in NYC by the names they had in the 1950s.
The Marty Markowitz Brooklyn Queens Expressway. Let’s make it happen.
When I first saw your post and its photo, I thought you were implying that there were three names for the bridge: Ed Koch, Queensboro Br, and KEEP RIGHT. We should always aspire to keep right, aka being morally upright citizens. Forget all this talk of Ed Koch, Queens, and Fifty-ninth/59th. It’ll always be the KEEP RIGHT Bridge to me.
Gil Hodges Bridge is largely ignored. Google maps still shows it as Marine Parkway Bridge.