Amtrak Cities Sprinter #629 traverses the Hell Gate Bridge westbound over the East River in New York City.
Construction of the 1,017-foot Hell Gate Bridge (the world's longest steel arch bridge at the time) began on March 1, 1912 and ended on September 30, 1916. It was built to connect the PRR to the New Haven. The bridge was originally known as either the New York Connecting Railroad Bridge or the East River Arch Bridge, Today it is known as the Hell Gate Bridge, a name derived from the fact that it crosses "the Hell Gate" which is actually a corruption of the Dutch phrase Hellegat, which could mean either "bright strait" or "clear opening", and originally applied to the entirety of the East River. In the 1990s, the bridge was repainted for the first time since it opened. It was painted a deep red called "Hell Gate Red". Due to a flaw in the paint, however, the red color began to fade before the work was completed. There were calls to have it repainted as it is a well known and admired New York City landmark but the case had settled, the cost deemed prohibitive and, the work not necessary as the paint itself is doing it's job. It is said the bridge left untouched would last another 1,000 years - let's hope we do not have to wait that long before it's next paint job!
