Hell Gate is a narrow marine channel in New York City. It separates the borough of Queens from Wards Island and connects the East River to the Long Island Sound. The name derives from the Dutch hellegat, which can be translated as hell’s passage. Until the United States Army Corps of Engineers blasted the main rock outcrops away in 1876, the waterway formed a tidal whirlpool and was dangerous to navigation. The channel has been widened and deepened since 1876 and is now about 900 feet (270 meters) wide and 34 feet (10 meters) deep. Spanning the East River over the channel are the Hell Gate railroad bridge, completed in 1917, and the Robert F. Kennedy road bridge, completed in 1936.
