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So Long 59th Street Bridge, Say Hello to the 'Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge'

By DNAinfo Staff on March 23, 2011 5:37pm  | Updated on March 24, 2011 6:30am

Koch served three terms as New York City's mayor from 1978 to 1989.
Koch served three terms as New York City's mayor from 1978 to 1989.
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Associated Press/Seth Wenig

By Jill Colvin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MIDTOWN — Get ready to take a ride on the Koch.

The City Council voted Wednesday to rechristen the Queensboro Bridge the "Ed Koch  Bridge" in honor of the city's 105th mayor.

The council voted 38-to-12 in favor of the plan, which was first suggested by Mayor Michael Bloomberg at Koch's 86th birthday celebration.

The mayor said the honor was befitting of Koch, whom he credited for rehabilitating the bridge.

"Ed Koch led our City back from the brink of ruin and put the building blocks in place to make New York City what it is today," Bloomberg said in a statement following the vote. "Ed Koch is responsible for so much of the progress we enjoy and the renaming is a perfect tribute to one of our City's greatest mayors."

All of the new signage will be paid for with private donations, according to the Mayor's Office, which is also known as the 59 Street Bridge, was memorialized in Simon and Garfunkel's 1966 tune " Street Bridge Song (Feelin Groovy).

Among those who voted against the plan were Queens City Councilmen Peter Vallone and Jimmy Van, who argued that the structure should keep the borough's name front and center.

In addition to the bridge vote, the council also voted 49-0 in support of a resolution calling on NASA to retire a space shuttle on The Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. NASA's decision is set to be announced on April 12.