Outerbridge Crossing

Whenever I am online looking for a movie theatre, dentist, or some such thing and I'm using a search engine that looks for places within, say, 10 concentric miles of Aberdeen, the computer automatically includes places in Staten Island among its recommendations. We're not that far from New York City's most southern borough, after all. At least not as the crow flies.

I don't think my neighbors are popping across the Outerbridge Crossing to go bowling, see films, or get their fillings, though. There's a big toll involved to cross into Staten Island. And, unless a family has roots in the city, people around here just don't see SI as being part of their extended neighborhood.

Did you know that the Outerbridge Crossing is actually named after someone? Eugenius Harvey Outerbridge (1860-1932) was the first head of the Port Authority. Who knew? I don't know what I thought the name meant, but the idea that there was some guy named Outerbridge out there who was being honored was the furthest thing from my mind.

If you're so inclined, you can watch video of people driving the bridge towards New Jersey or back to New York. You can even make out the bridge in this video taken from the vantage point of the Perth Amboy waterfront, or should I say you can spot it when the video operator isn't zooming in tight on his girlfriend's face. I guess they're in love. Whatever.