North River (Hudson River)

In 1808, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin issued a report of proposed locations for transportation and communication internal improvements of national importance.

Gallatin noted the following in reference to the North and Hudson Rivers, writing:[17] What is called the North River is a narrow and long bay, which in its northwardly course from the harbor of New York breaks through or turns all the mountains, affording a tide navigation for vessels of eighty tons to Albany and Troy, one hundred and sixty miles above New York.

In the North River it breaks through the Blue Ridge at West Point and ascends above the eastern termination of the Catskill or great western chain.

That year the Hudson–Fulton Celebration was held, commemorating Henry Hudson, the first European to record navigating the river, and Robert Fulton, the first man to use a paddle steamer in America, named the North River Steamboat, to sail up it, leading to controversy over what the waterway should be called.

Many of these piers and the waterfront between them are part of the Hudson River Park which stretches from 59th Street to the Battery.

[24] Several piers were rebuilt for adaptive re-use as part of the park project, with approximately 70% of the planned work complete by 2011.

This led to an extensive network of intermodal terminals, railyards, ferry slips, docks, barges, and carfloats.

The last crossing to be built was the south tube of the Lincoln Tunnel in 1957, but in 1962, another deck was added to the George Washington Bridge.