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Old Willis Avenue Bridge Floats to Its Final Resting Place

Crews work to install the new Willis Avenue Bridge as it's placed into its permanent position over the Harlem River August 9, 2010 in New York City. The 350-foot long pre-fabricated span is replacing the 109 year-old swing bridge currently in use.
Crews work to install the new Willis Avenue Bridge as it's placed into its permanent position over the Harlem River August 9, 2010 in New York City. The 350-foot long pre-fabricated span is replacing the 109 year-old swing bridge currently in use.
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Stephen Chernin/Getty Images

By Heather Grossmann

DNAinfo News Editor

MANHATTAN — The old Willis Avenue Bridge was bound for a junkyard in Jersey City last week where it would finally be laid to rest.

The 110-year-old bridge, which extended from First Avenue and East 124th Street in Manhattan to Willis Avenue and East 134th Street in the Bronx, was replaced last year.

After the city failed to attract buyers for the old bridge, the contractors behind the new bridge were commissioned to sell it for scrap, according to the New York Times.

The original bridge opened on August 22, 1901, and cost $2,444,511, according to the Department of Transportation's website

The new bridge, which cost over $6 million, arrived by barge last summer, traveling from Albany up the East River and under the Brooklyn Bridge on its route to the Harlem River.