High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Hell Gate Bridge or Hell's Gate Bridge (originally the New York Connecting Railroad Bridge or The East River Arch Bridge) is a 1,017-foot (310 m) steel through arch railroad bridge between Astoria in the borough of Queens and Randall's and Wards Islands (which are now joined into one island and are politically part of Manhattan) in New York City, over a portion of the East River known as Hell Gate.