Newtown Creek

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Newtown Creek
The Creek in Long Island City
The Creek in Long Island City
Origin 40°43′06″N 73°55′27″W / 40.718412, -73.924127 (Grand Avenue and 47th Street)
Mouth East River 40°44′14″N 73°57′40″W / 40.73734, -73.96112 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 ft3/s
Newtown Creek and its tributaries
Newtown Creek and its tributaries

Newtown Creek, is a 3.5 mi (6 km) estuary that forms part of the border between the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, in New York City, New York, United States.

It derives its name from New Town (Nieuwe Stad), which was the name for the Dutch and British settlement in what is now Elmhurst, Queens.

Contents

[edit] Course

Its waterfront, and that of its tributaries Dutch Kills, Whale Creek, Maspeth Creek and English Kills, are heavily industrialized. It is one of the most polluted waterways in North America.

It starts near the intersection of 47th Street and Grand Avenue on the Brooklyn-Queens border 40°43′06″N 73°55′27″W / 40.718412, -73.924127 at the intersection of the East Branch and East Branch and English Kills.[1]. It empties into the East River at 40°44′14″N 73°57′40″W / 40.73734, -73.96112 (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 ft3/s is approximately 940 times smaller than the 56,000 ft3/s outflow of the Missouri River at Kansas City, Missouri.[2]. Being estuarine, the creek is largely stagnant.

[edit] History

Mouth of the Creek, seen from Pulaski Bridge. Manhattan Avenue Bridge formerly connected Manhattan Avenue on the left bank to Vernon Boulevard
Mouth of the Creek, seen from Pulaski Bridge. Manhattan Avenue Bridge formerly connected Manhattan Avenue on the left bank to Vernon Boulevard
Whale Creek fuel tanks
Whale Creek fuel tanks
Newtown Creek from the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge
Newtown Creek from the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge

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, between Kingsland and Greenpoint Avenues, Whale Creek, and the main stream of Newtown Creek.

Residents of Greenpoint, Brooklyn have filed lawsuits regarding the Greenpoint Oil Spill, the United States' largest underground oil spill.

[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.

Tankers in the creek
Tankers in the creek

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Newtown Creek Alliance
  2. ^ 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

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