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.