At 13.1 miles, runners cross the Pulaski Bridge, marking the halfway point of the race and the entrance into Queens. After about two and a half miles in Queens, runners cross the East River on the Queensboro Bridge into Manhattan. It is at this point in the race when many runners begin to tire, as the climb up the bridge is considered one of the most difficult points in the marathon.
Pulaski Bridge
The Pulaski Bridge in New York City connects Long Island City in Queens to Greenpoint in Brooklyn over Newtown Creek. It was named after Polish military commander and American Revolutionary War fighter Kazimierz PuĊaski (Casimir Pulaski) because of the large Polish-American population in Greenpoint. It connects 11th Street in Queens to McGuinness Boulevard (formerly Oakland Street) in Brooklyn.
The Pulaski Bridge opened to traffic on September 10, 1954.[2] It served as a replacement for the nearby Vernon Avenue Bridge, which had linked Vernon Avenue in Long Island City with Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint.[1]
Designed by Frederick Zurmuhlen, the Pulaski Bridge is a bascule bridge, a type of drawbridge. It carries six lanes of traffic and a pedestrian sidewalk over the water, Long Island Rail Road tracks, and the entrance to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel. The pedestrian sidewalk is on the west or downstream side of the bridge, which has good views of the industrial areas surrounding Newtown Creek, the skyline of Manhattan, and of a number of other bridges, including the Williamsburg Bridge, the Queensboro Bridge, and the Kosciuszko Bridge. The bridge was reconstructed between 1991 and 1994.[3]
From 1979 until 1990, a message reading "Wheels Over Indian Trails" was painted on the Pulaski Bridge over the approach to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel. The artwork was created by John Fekner as a tribute to the thirteen Native American tribes who inhabited Long Island.[4]
Located 13.1 miles from the start of the New York City Marathon at the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, the Pulaski Bridge serves as the halfway point in the race.
Queens
Queens is the largest in area, the second-largest in population, and the easternmost of the Five Boroughs which form New York City. The Borough of Queens' boundaries are identical to those of the County of Queens (Queens County), a subdivision of the State of New York in the Northeastern United States.
Located on the western portion of Long Island, Queens is home to two of the three major New York City area airports, John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia; it is also the location of the New York Mets baseball team; the US Open tennis tournament; Flushing Meadows Park; Kaufman Astoria Studios; and Silvercup Studios.
As of the 2005[update] American Community Survey, immigrants comprise 47.6% of Queens residents.[1] With a population of 2.3 million it is the second most populous borough in New York City (behind Brooklyn) and the tenth most populous county in the United States. It is also the nation's fourth-most-densely populated county (afte
r the counties covering Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx).[2] The 2.3 million figure is the highest historical population for the borough.[3] Were each borough an independent city, Brooklyn and Queens would be the fourth- and fifth-largest cities in the United States, respectively.Queens was established in 1683 as one of the original 12 counties of New York and was supposedly named for the Queen consort, Catherine of Braganza (1638-1705), the Portuguese princess who married King Charles II of England in 1662.[6][7]
The borough is often considered one of the more suburban boroughs (in comparison to Manhattan standards) of New York City. Neighborhoods in central Queens (except those situated along Queens Boulevard and the neighborhoods of Flushing and Jamaica), southern Queens, and eastern Queens have a look and feel similar to the bordering suburbs of western Nassau County. In its northwestern section, however, Queens is home to many urban neighborhoods and several central business districts. Long Island City, on the Queens' waterfront across from Manhattan, is the site of the Citicorp Building, the tallest skyscraper in New York City outside of Manhattan, and the tallest building on geographic Long Island.
Source - Wikipedia
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