The bridge traverses part of the southernmost stretch of Newtown Creek on the eastern branch after it splits, and is located in an Industrial Business Zone. Busses, trucks, cargo vans, and other automobiles lumbered across the old swing bridge all the time; the 108 year-old bridge is an important thoroughfare for workers in the various warehouses and storage facilities of the area. Every 2-5 minutes a large passenger jet burgeoned overhead to its destination of LaGuardia airport, flying low enough to distinctly recognize the airline logos. The exhaust from all these vehicles, coupled with the various industrial smells of the surrounding businesses, made the air nauseating and acrid. I had walked along earlier stretches of the creek to get to this particular spot, and what immediately struck me about this body of water was the perpetual rising of bubbles to the surface. The whole creek looked as if it was being rained on, or it was carbonated like a soda because of the many thousands of ripples caused by popping bubbles. I learned from the Newtown Creek Alliance website that these bubbles were the result of a combination of an increase in hydrogen sulfide and a lack of oxygen in the water. the phenomenon primarily happens in the English Kills section of Newtown Creek, dissipating the further one travels away from Brooklyn. Hydrogen sulfide is released as a byproduct of industrial processes such as petroleum refining, paper product manufacturing, and leather processing, all of said industries at one time prevalent on the shores of Newtown Creek. It also has a distinctive smell of rotten eggs. Newtown Creek is a stagnant estuary with no current, so the stench of chemical reactions in the water compounded the malodorous mixture of scent caused by the automobile traffic. The water itself was extremely murky and blackish-brown in color, with various bits of waste suspended in the turbid creek. I must say, it was an unpleasant experience to just sit and observe this portion of the waterway.
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