Triborough Renamed 'Robert F. Kennedy Bridge'

New York, NY —

Robert F. Kennedy would have turned 83 years old this month. On November 19th, the Triborough Bridge will be officially renamed in honor of the New York Senator who was killed while running for president in 1968. WNYC's Matthew Schuerman reports.

REPORTER: The MTA, which owns the bridge, knows it won't be easy to get the new name to stick. On Thursday, it targeted an important constituency: the broadcasters that give traffic reports every ten minutes. If they adopt the new name, the public will follow.

Kerry Kennedy, the late senator's daughter, took part in the briefing. She says there's one reason why she doesn't think the new name will suffer the fate of Avenue of the Americas or, for that matter, Swing Street.

KENNEDY: West 52nd Street is also known as Swing Street. This will not have a second name. It will not be the RFK Triborough Bridge. It is just going to be the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge.

REPORTER: Kennedy says if it gets shortened to The RFK Bridge, that's okay too, she says. For WNYC, I'm Matthew Schuerman.

It'll cost the state Department of Transportation $4 million to change the name on more than a hundred signs that direct traffic to the bridge. The MTA will spend $4 thousand to rename the signs on the bridge itself.