When the temperature in New York City reached 95 degrees Fahrenheit earlier this week, it marked the hottest day of the year so far. The heat had an unexpected side effect: It caused the steel on the Third Avenue Bridge in the Bronx to swell, forcing the bridge to remain stuck in its open position and impeding road traffic during rush hour. This incident highlights how extreme heat is affecting daily life and serves as another example of climate change's impact on infrastructure.
The bridge, which connects Manhattan to the Bronx, occasionally opens to allow ships sailing along the Harlem River to pass through. After it got stuck in an open position, officials sprayed it with water in an attempt to cool it down. The bridge became stuck around 4 p.m. and did not reopen to traffic until approximately 6:30 p.m.
Clint Andrews, director of the Center for Urban Policy Research at Rutgers University, suggests that cities can learn from regions with historically higher temperatures when adapting to more intense summers. "Cities all over the world that lie closer to the equator than [New York] build infrastructure to a more heat-resistant standard," he says. "We have to adapt ours in that direction, over time."
