Robert F Kennedy Bridge

Even though this bridge is really short, the views are cool. It connects you to the Bronx, Queens, and Manhattan. I use it to get to get back to Queens from the city. I wish the drive over it was longer because the views are really cool. I have lived in NYC all my life and I never get tired of seeing the NYC skylines.
Oh and you must pay a toll.
I would recommend.

I know this as the Triboro but RFK is good too. This toll bridge connects three of the boros, hence the name Tri Boro. Manhatten, Queens, and the Bronx. I usually use it from Queens to get to New Jersey via the George Washington Bridge. Also connects you with the Bruckner Expressway if you are heading north to I 95. You catch it on 125^th Street on the East Side in Manhatten. The Grand Central Parkway takes you right there on the Queens side.
Usually not too much traffic getting over the bridge, especially if you have EZ Pass.

It’s short and it’s fat and it’s overpriced. Sometimes it takes forever to get you there and when you do you wonder if it was even worth it. It’s owned by a «Man» that never plays without a «Hat-​on.» He has two lovers, Bronxita and Queenie. Regardless of which one he’s dating, he’s making them pay for the date. Sometimes it’s both of them together. Oh and he recently changed his name and made all his friends foot the legal bills. And everyone still calls him by his old name anyway. And did I mention it’s really short and really fat and as hard as concrete.
But enough about my Dad. Let’s discuss the RFK (formerly Triboro) bridge.
I’ve crossed this bridge probably only 15 times in my life even though I should have crossed it 150 times. This is because I make a concerted effort to avoid it, and use the free crossings instead. If you have a problem with that talk to my agent. He’s a terrible agent but a wonderful human being. And that’s how I got into showbiz and met Hannah.
It’s well publicized that changing the name of this bridge was very expensive to the taxpayers and in my opinion, a lot of that money probably went in someone’s pocket which is probably why they did it. There was no massive movement to have it named after Bobby. There are lots, and lots, and lots of important bridges around the country which could have been renamed, or new bridges which could have been named, in his honour, without spending that much money on it.
My other major complaint is the price. Just a mile down the road you can cross to the Bronx for free. Just a couple of miles down the other way you can cross the Queensboro for free too. And yet if you use this bridge, you’re paying a decent chunk of your hourly wage in either direction. And it just annoys me. Charging a ton to get into NYC, I can live with. But charging New Yorkers for passing from one borough to the other, is immensely frustrating. Especially when some bridges are free and some are mid price (like this one) in both directions and some are obscenely priced but only in one direction. Idgi.
Well I do get it. Money money money. But you know, by charging all these different amounts for different crossings, it just creates a lot of traffic confusion. Bottlenecking on the free bridges. They’re still not taking credit cards (or are they now?).
The bridge itself is fine. It’s not as much of a health hazard as some NY area bridges. The views are excellent. You can see Rikers, you can see Manhattan, you can see the towerblocks of the Bronx and Spencer waving to you from them. You can see the glinting eateries of Astoria with Jando down there screaming «come and get some street food!» You can see Manhattan stretched out before you like an overpriced masseuse waiting to prod you in places that your mother never wanted you to be prodded. Wait. I don’t understand that simile or that reference. Because my mother always wanted me prodded. I don’t even know if it’s a simile. Metaphor. Whatever. Maybe it’s a smiley instead of a simile. :) There. That’s better.
So it’s a nice looking bridge (but not the prettiest) with great views (but not the very best views), and it has a fantastic name, RFK (and yet everyone calls it the Triboro and it cost millions to change all the signs and such), and when you add to this fact that it’s often very backed up at random times of day, and that you have to pay both ways through the bottom, then I can’t give it more than a three. I’m really sorry Triboro. I mean RFK. Heart you.
By the way RFK was one of my fave political guys ever. And would have been President.
And what’s the difference between JFK working on people’s teeth, and an Indian mother? One was Presi-​dental. And the other is Desi-​parental.
OK that was bad. But not as bad as this. (PDP)

Fast and easy way to get into Manhattan or the Bronx. I love bridges so that’s the real reason for the 4stars lol. The view is nice. Only sucks you have to pay a toll

i guess when you change the name you raise the prices. Tri-​Boro to Robert F Kennedy Bridge; raise prices as you see fit.
I remember the day Tri-​Boro (RFK) was 50 cents. then it seem over the course of a year or so prices when through the roof. It seem people where still willing to pay; no matter what. Booooooooo.
The bridge is very convenient for my wife and I. Get on, first exit, we are home. Easy as pie. We still take the 59 Street Bridge; oops Ed Koch Bridge; when we don’t want to pay and be cheap, but the Tri-​Boro (RFK) is so close to home. OUCH as my EZ Pass gets charged. I feel pain…
TIP: don’t speed on the bridge or make an illegal turn on to the bridge. BE WARN. You will pay the price.

In my heart, this will always be the Triborough Bridge.

The RFK Bridge foolishly had construction trucks blocking the middle lanes during Thanksgiving holiday travels yesterday which slowed up traffic quite a bit, but once passing the trucks-​smooth sailing. The bridge itself is iconic and I always feel quite nostalgic when driving over it because my first time ever driving over the bridge into the city is a memory I will never forget shared with my mom. The first time driving over a bridge can be very daunting and of course it was windy but this solid and sound structure connects transient travelers from one borough to the next. I took the bridge to 2^nd Avenue and 125^th and then maneuvered my way through Harlem and cut across to Riverside to head onto the GWB towards Northern Jersey. Based on my WAZE app, I saved about 40 minutes off my journey going in this way. I highly recommend it to anyone.

It must be totally obvious that I’m as far as you can get from a New Yorker when I hop in the back of a taxi and the taxi driver asks me how he should get to my place…“Uh, the fastest way I guess”. Yep, that’s my answer every time.
Now that I have frequented NY more than once I can say that 9 times out of 10 that the Robert F Kennedy Bridge is the fastest way to get to Manhattan. I’ve had taxi’s that have used other bridges and this bridge is by far the cheapest and the fastest from LaGuardia. There is a toll but even with the toll included in the price it’s still cheaper than the other routes I’ve taken.
Hopefully, my next visit to NY the taxi drivers will have to take a second glance before realizing I’m not a local. I still look like I don’t belong; I doubt this will ever change.

Just a smooth drive into the city!

This review is for walking the bridge. I love walking bridges, it one of the things I love to do in the city besides museums, parks, and ethnic foods. Although you may have the occasional biker who is going too fast, besides that, it is an excellent walk. I will recommend walking this bridge if you are around the area.

One day we decided to take a walk on this bridge. We started from Astoria to Randall island. The view was great, there is a spot in the middle of where there is no fence so you can see clear view of the hell gate bridge, river and surrounding area. They also took some care with this bridge, seeing from the different color paint patches here and there. It was clean and no graffiti. We like how they paint it pale light blue, so it somewhat matched the sky and give a calm vibe. It was a quiet bridge, not too many people passing by.
However the pathway is a bit narrow and we have to share it with bikers. So do walk with caution when you walk on this bridge, especially at night.

I prefer this bridge going into the Bronx/​Westchester County more than the Whitestone because it’s less crowded and roomier to drive on the highway. Even though the Whitestone would put you closer in the Bronx and Westchester County.

Note: I write this review as one perennially on a bicycle, using the bridge as such. This is a review regarding how I see the RFK bridge vis-​a-​vis riding by bike.
In that regard, it’s not bad. I’ve started riding from Astoria to either Washington Heights or the Bronx. I can use this bridge to do either. There is some looping back around here and there, but it’s not so bad or time-​consuming. For example, I cross the RFK in northern Astoria to the southern edge of Randalls Island, head more or less to the middle of the island, loop back south on the western edge, to head over to Manhattan via the Wards Island Bridge, along smooth pavement all the while. I probably lose seven minutes looping back around — not ideal, but pretty good, all things considered — and a great way to avoid taking the subway when I’d like to venture from Queens to northern Manhattan, or the Bronx.
Speaking of which — getting to the Bronx is a bit annoying. From Astoria, the RFK dumps you in a derelict area of the south Bronx, with a surfeit of warehouses and trucks. I lose a few minutes avoiding the highway and taking various side streets. But it’s not so bad.
On the RFK bridge itself, I have to pick up my bike a few times and climb up or down steps. That’s annoying. Finding the entrance to the pedestrian walkway from Randalls Island to the Bronx is tricky at first. Once you find it, though, you can bike from Queens to the Bronx pretty much straight up, with only a few pauses along the way for stairs, getting down from the sidewalk, etc.
All in all, I’m pretty happy that I can bike directly from Queens to Manhattan or the Bronx. The RFK bridge makes it possible. It takes me about the same amount of time to bike to either as it does to take the subway, even to the extreme edges of northern Manhattan or the north Bronx. So why not bike?

RFK bridge, I don’t use it that often, maybe 2 – 3 times a month. The toll right now is 7.50 $ without and around 5 $ with the EZ pass.
It’s super fast to get from one borough to another one. Was never stuck in traffic there.
It was a bit confusing first couple of times. One time we made a wrong turn going from Manhattan (that time we didn’t plan to use the bridge), ended up on a road towards the bridge, and couldn’t get off. We had to pay, get off at Randall’s Island and come back.
Now we now the road, so it’s easy, but for people that don’t know, there shoud be more signs. I know some places where before the toll it’s says «last turn/​exit before toll».
Or maybe I’m just being silly?!

What can I say? This bridge takes me about a 15 minute drive from Harlem to Flushing! There’s a toll fee, but it’s not that costly, especially when I have an e-​z pass. Most importantly, it saves me TIME! Time is precious nowadays. You can do more with your time by taking this bridge. So yeah, why not? I’m still trying to get used to the bridge’s name change to Robert F Kennedy lol

This review is solely for walking over the bridge. We live in Harlem and we drive over it all the time and that’s not an issue.
My husband and I like walking over bridges. It’s kind of our thing. And we’ve pretty much done them all now (except the GWB which I’ve run over but he still hasn’t gone over it on foot). This one totally sucks compared to the others.
We used this to get to Randall’s Island today. The pedestrian entrance is easy to find but full of litter. Whatever. But the walkway was pretty much deserted except for your random crazy or homeless person. It makes me nervous when a bridge is so deserted, especially if I was to be running over it alone. There are many hidden corners where people could be lurking. I’m definitely not saying that there are people lurking but it creeps me out to think so.
As a runner, I’d love to use this to run over to Randall’s Island. But my husband and I agree it’s probably not a good idea for me to do alone. Not only are there the hidden corners and no one else on the walkway, but when you get off the bridge on Randall’s Island it’s like a weird deserted parking area. We actually got a little lost as to which was to go to get to the golf center (it’s right toward the river not to the left). The walkway to connect to get to Queens and the Bronx is also deserted and sketchy to be alone.
Honestly I’m not one to be nervous to go places in NYC. I used to walk 20 minutes in Brownsville to get to Brookdale hospital and I wasn’t nervous. But this would make me nervous.
The city should clean it up a bit and encourage it’s use more to get to Randall’s Island.

It was a fine evening. I had the Chicken Cordon Bleu. Some two-​bit buffoon (Stephen F. Reston) recommended it. Apparently, in those years, the Ambassador Hotel cooked few things as good. For their sake, I hope they did. Needless to say, the conversation that evening was intense. George Plimpton told many stories (so very George). I wasn’t a registered democrat but I had some connection to the family. We called them «the» family. Never the Kennedys or the Hyannis Clan, always the family. Why am I telling you all this? Not quite sure. But that night was Bobby Kennedy’s final one on Earth. Sirhan Sirhan, that devil, made it so. As a man with principles and paranoias, I’ve rarely trusted those with two first names. But the same name? My lord. That is a sin to end all sins. Dead giveaway that something is wrong. This repetitive assassin ruined our dreams.
Despite all of this. Robert F. Kennedy was not a New Yorker. And this bridge will always be the Triboro. No matter what.

Because I need this bridge to get to where I want to eat! :)
and Mother’s Day morning NO TRAFFIC!!!

Not a bad bridge to ride your bike over to NYC. I will say that I don’t like that you have to get off the bike in multiple section. This is a section that is very surreal, there is no guard rail and you can see everything.
Not a great way to get to NYC, take the Queensboro bridge instead.

OK — let’s just put this out here now — this is the TRIBORO Bridge and will always be known as that by New Yorkers. Nothing against Bobby Kennedy, but to dump a $ 4,000,000 price tag on the tax payers for all the name and signage change is just ridiculous in these tough economic times. Just bad city planning once again. There was nothing wrong with the old name. Why change it?
That being said, I actually love living close to this bridge. As I live on the upper east side and travel a lot for biz the Triboro offers super quick access to LaGuardia airport, and is also the route to take to get to JFK airport. Yes, there is a toll for this one so be sure to get in the EZ pass lanes on the left, or cash on the right. Can be backed up especially during rush hour morning and night. Be prepared to wait.
Also, this bridge offers a quick route to Randall’s Island where there is a golf driving range, mini golf, tennis courts, batting cages, soccer, and ball fields.