Queensboro Bridge to Be Renamed for Ed Koch

City plans to raise money to pay for new signs privately

Ready to take a drive over the Ed Koch Bridge?

Mayor Bloomberg is planning to announce today that the Queensboro Bridge will be renamed after former Mayor Ed Koch, who turns 86 this month.

“It’s a workhorse bridge,” Koch said to the New York Times. “And that’s what I am, I’m a workhorse. Always have been. I feel very compatible with it.”

Along with the101-year-old bridge, the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel will also be renamed after former Governor Hugh L. Carey, which is something that Koch approves of.

“I have been trying for years to get something named for Hugh Carey,” Mr. Koch said. “I think he’s the greatest governor of the modern era.”

The renaming process still has to be approved by the city council, but it has the support of Speaker Christine C. Quinn, who told the Times that Koch “deserves way more than a street”.

The city plans to raise the money to pay for the new road signs privately. Renaming the Triborough Bridge to the Robert F. Kennedy bridge cost the city almost $4 million.

Still, Koch praised the move, saying, “It’s not soaring, beautiful, handsome, like the George Washington or the Verrazano,” he said. “It’s rugged, it’s hard working — and that’s me.”
 

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