Jersey City Insider

OK, lets talk about Revolutionary War hero Brigadier General Casimir Pulaski and the black steel contraption known as the "Pulaski Skyway" which was dedicated in his honour back in 1932.

Born in Poland in 1745, Casimir Pulaski first gained distinction as a military hero while fighting to defend his native Poland. His reputation as a bold warrior and his dedication to the cause of liberty became known throughout Europe.

Pulaski met with Benjamin Franklin in Paris in 1777 and agreed to join the Americans in their fight for freedom... providing they'd one day build a weird bridge in Jersey City bearing his name.

Quickly proving to be a gifted military leader, Pulaski was commissioned as a Brigadier General and became known as "the Father of the American Cavalry". He recruited and trained a special corps of American, Polish, Irish, French, and German troops who fought with great skill and success.

During the siege of Savannah in 1779, General Pulaski was mortally wounded, leaving a legacy of heroism that continues to inspire people around the world... and in Jersey City.

General Pulaski

not General Pulaski

The suicidal Pulaski Skyway, is a series of cantilever truss bridges that carry four lanes of . Route 1/9 between the east side of Newark and Tonnelle Circle in Jersey City, passing through Kearny.

This thing ain't that high, so why the fuck is it called a "SKYway" ?
At the time of its construction (1927 to 1932) it was the world's longest high-level viaduct. I guess back then this was very Jetsons.

General Pulaski must've had a sick sense of humour or a love for the Brits (or both) because his beloved namesake in the clouds is blessed with several suicidal blind spot left-side exit & entrance ramps as seen below.

Good luck!

After that horrible bridge collapse in Minneapolis a few weeks ago the NJDOT finally decided to invest $10-million to repair the embattled Skyway.

Little Known Fun Facts about The Skyway:

• The Pulaski Skyway has been referenced in the famous 1938 radio drama The War of the Worlds.
  
  
• Some say Woody Guthrie was referring to The Skyway when he wrote the line "I saw above me this endless skyway" in the famous anthem "This Land Is Your Land". At the time Woody wrote the song, he was living in NYC, and recording for a record label in Camden, NJ, so he would have been crossing the span regularly.
  
  
• The Skyway is featured prominently in the opening shot of Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt ... it must've been in The Sopranos too because everywhere I looked online, there were links to random German tourists posing underneath it hahaha