--- title: "It’s So Hot That an Entire New York City Bridge That Opens for Boats Got Jammed" description: "NYC's Third Avenue Bridge was got stuck turning as temperatures soared to 95 degrees Fahrenheit on Monday." date: "2024-07-11" modified: "2024-07-11" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/so-hot-new-york-bridge-jammed" categories: - "Climate Change" - "Environment" - "Science & Energy" tags: - "climate change" - "heat" - "heat waves" - "the digest" --- # It’s So Hot That an Entire New York City Bridge That Opens for Boats Got Jammed ![NYC's Third Avenue Bridge was got stuck turning as temperatures soared to 95 degrees Fahrenheit on Monday.]() *\Image: Selcuk Acar / Anadolu via Getty\* ## Lane Change When the movies show some unfathomable catastrophe — be it an alien invasion or a globe-spanning natural disaster — it usually takes place in New York. So, in a very on-the-nose omen of sweltering climate doom to come, where else in the world would you expect news of an entire bridge wilting under the heat? That's right: the Big Apple, baby. As [*CBS News* reports](), the structure in question is the Third Avenue Bridge, which spans the Harlem River and links the Bronx and Manhattan. It didn't melt into a puddle, but its fate was still pretty embarrassing: the swing bridge, in all its glory, got stuck wide open due to the unbelievable heat. On Monday afternoon, temperatures soared to 95 degrees Fahrenheit — the hottest this year, and marking the [fourth day in a row]() that temperatures passed the 90 degree mark. This unrelenting heat, officials said, caused the metal in the structure to expand. And the timing of this swelling couldn't have been worse. The swing bridge was in the middle of turning around to connect back with the road after letting a ship through — but got stuck before it could finish lining up with the locking mechanism on the Manhattan side. Motorists trying to get places, meanwhile, were left waiting for hours. ## Bridge Too Far You might expect a few hiccups with a 126-year-old bridge — but this is more like it getting caught with its pants down. Officials scrambling to get it working again resorted to getting firefighters to spray it with water to try cool it down. It wasn't the most elegant solution, but it apparently worked, with the bridge opening again in a few hours. Those few hours, though, resulted in traffic jams that reverberated throughout the Bronx, probably well into the night. Fortunately, no one was hurt and the damage wasn't serious. But this is likely just a tiny prelude of things to come. Last year was the [world's hottest year on record]() by an astounding margin, and experts warn that our infrastructure, especially power grids, [won't be able to withstand the heat](). Next time, a heat-induced infrastructure problem might require more than a firehose to fix. **More on the hot climate:** *[Brutal Heat Wave Is Literally Putting People Into Comas]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()