216-717: The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge ( / ˌ v ɛr ə ˈ z ɑː n oʊ / VERR -ə- ZAH -noh ; also referred to as the Narrows Bridge , the Verrazzano Bridge , and simply the Verrazzano ) is a suspension bridge connecting the New York City boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn . It spans the Narrows , a body of water linking the relatively enclosed New York Harbor with Lower New York Bay and
432-410: A cable-stayed bridge in which the deck is in compression. Cable-stayed bridges and suspension bridges may appear to be similar, but are quite different in principle and in their construction. In suspension bridges, large main cables (normally two) hang between the towers and are anchored at each end to the ground. The main cables, which are free to move on bearings in the towers, bear the load of
648-463: A "Verrazzano Bridge" and proclaimed a "Verrazzano Day". The Staten Island Chamber of Commerce opposed the Verrazzano name altogether, saying that the proper name of the bridge should be "Staten Island Bridge" because there was also a " Brooklyn Bridge ", a " Manhattan Bridge ", a " Queens Bridge ", and a " Bronx Bridge ". The Italian Historical Society was reportedly perplexed about the opposition to
864-764: A $ 5 million expenditure for the Triborough project, and in July 1930, a $ 5 million bond issue to fund the Triborough Bridge's construction was passed. Plans for an expressway to connect to the bridge's Queens end were also filed in July 1930. This later became the Brooklyn Queens Expressway , which was connected to the bridge via the Grand Central Parkway . There were also proposals for an expressway to connect to
1080-541: A 214 m central span), is similar to the Sagar bridge. It is one of the longest of the parabolic arc chain type. The current Marlow suspension bridge was designed by William Tierney Clark and was built between 1829 and 1832, replacing a wooden bridge further downstream which collapsed in 1828. It is the only suspension bridge across the non-tidal Thames. The Széchenyi Chain Bridge , (designed in 1840, opened in 1849), spanning
1296-464: A better connection to the rest of the city. Thus, the bridge's announcement was welcomed and it sparked a rise in real-estate prices on the island. As the controversy progressed, Steinman brought up a competing proposal to build a bridge between Brooklyn and New Jersey directly. Nelson Rockefeller , the Republican candidate for governor of New York, initially supported Steinman's proposal to build
1512-518: A bill that provided for the relocation of the Queens span's Wards Island end, 1,100 feet (340 m) to the west, thereby preserving hospital buildings from demolition. The bridge was ultimately planned to cost $ 24 million and was planned to start construction in August 1929. By July, the groundbreaking was scheduled for September. The preliminary Triborough Bridge proposal comprised four bridges:
1728-487: A bridge across the Narrows. Under the new plan, the proposed bridge would charge tolls for motorists, and its $ 50 million cost would be paid off using federal bonds. La Guardia preferred a tunnel instead, and so the next year he requested the New York City Tunnel Authority to review the feasibility of such a crossing. The New York City Planning Commission was amenable to constructing either
1944-570: A bridge approach in the Bronx, and he promised to resume construction of the bridge. That May, the TBA asked the RFC for a $ 35 million loan to pay for the bridge. The RFC ultimately agreed in August to grant $ 44.2 million, to be composed of a loan of $ 37 million, as well as a $ 7.2 million subsidy. However, the loan would only be given under a condition that 18,000 workers be hired first, so
2160-518: A bridge because its construction would almost definitely require the demolition of part of the neighborhood. Boring work for the vehicular tunnels started in November 1930. The 11,000-foot (3,400 m) twin tunnels, projected to be completed by 1937, were to connect Hylan Boulevard on Staten Island with 86th Street in Brooklyn once they were completed. In January 1932, construction of these tunnels
2376-492: A bridge has a tendency to collapse simply because of the gravitational forces acting on the materials of which the bridge is made. Live load refers to traffic that moves across the bridge as well as normal environmental factors such as changes in temperature, precipitation, and winds. Dynamic load refers to environmental factors that go beyond normal weather conditions, factors such as sudden gusts of wind and earthquakes. All three factors must be taken into consideration when building
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#17327730621032592-565: A bridge or a tunnel across the Narrows, and in 1939, put forth a plan to expand New York City's highway system. In March of the same year, as a bill for the Battery Bridge was being passed, Staten Island state legislators added a last-minute amendment to the bill, providing for a Narrows bridge. The Narrows crossing was not included in the final version of the Planning Commission's plan, which was approved in 1941. In 1943,
2808-586: A bridge so much as a traffic machine, the largest ever built". The American Society of Civil Engineers designated the Triborough Bridge Project as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1986. The bridge is owned and operated by MTA Bridges and Tunnels (formally the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, or TBTA), an affiliate of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority . The RFK Bridge
3024-651: A bridge to New Jersey, but Moses later persuaded Rockefeller to endorse the bridge to Staten Island. The State Legislature drafted a bill in an effort to change the Brooklyn approach's location to Belt Parkway. However, now-governor Rockefeller vetoed the Belt Parkway bill, and in March 1959, the Board of Estimate officially condemned land along Seventh Avenue to make way for the Gowanus Expressway extension to
3240-468: A bridge. Silver Bridge (USA) was an eyebar chain highway bridge, built in 1928, that collapsed in late 1967, killing forty-six people. The bridge had a low-redundancy design that was difficult to inspect. The collapse inspired legislation to ensure that older bridges were regularly inspected and maintained. Following the collapse a bridge of similar design was immediately closed and eventually demolished. A second similarly-designed bridge had been built with
3456-788: A bridge. The principles of suspension used on a large scale also appear in contexts less dramatic than road or rail bridges. Light cable suspension may prove less expensive and seem more elegant for a cycle or footbridge than strong girder supports. An example of this is the Nescio Bridge in the Netherlands, and the Roebling designed 1904 Riegelsville suspension pedestrian bridge across the Delaware River in Pennsylvania. The longest pedestrian suspension bridge, which spans
3672-685: A combined 1,265,000 short tons (1,129,000 long tons) of metal, more than three times the 365,000 short tons (326,000 long tons) of metal used in the Empire State Building . Because of the height of the towers (693 ft or 211 m) and their distance from each other (4,260 ft or 1,298 m), the curvature of the Earth's surface had to be taken into account when designing the bridge. The towers are not parallel to each other, but are 1 + 5 ⁄ 8 in (41.275 mm) farther apart at their tops than at their bases. When built,
3888-603: A concrete retaining wall. In 2017, the MTA started collecting all tolls electronically at the approaches to each bridge, and the tollbooths were removed from the toll plazas on the RFK Bridge and all other MTA Bridges and Tunnels crossings. The Robert Moses Administration Building, a two-story Art Deco structure designed by Embury, served as the headquarters of the TBTA (now the MTA's Bridges and Tunnels division). The building
4104-544: A feasibility study for a Narrows tunnel, finding that it would be much cheaper to build a bridge. Moses and mayor William O'Dwyer both supported the Narrows Bridge plan, which was still being referred to as "Liberty Bridge". The city submitted its request to the War Department in July 1948, and a commission composed of three United States Armed Forces branches was convened to solicit the public's opinions on
4320-468: A half (38 mm) thick, rivetted together. The first wire-cable suspension bridge was the Spider Bridge at Falls of Schuylkill (1816), a modest and temporary footbridge built following the collapse of James Finley's nearby Chain Bridge at Falls of Schuylkill (1808). The footbridge's span was 124 m, although its deck was only 0.45 m wide. Development of wire-cable suspension bridges dates to
4536-403: A higher margin of safety and remained in service until 1991. The Tacoma Narrows Bridge , (USA), 1940, was vulnerable to structural vibration in sustained and moderately strong winds due to its plate-girder deck structure. Wind caused a phenomenon called aeroelastic fluttering that led to its collapse only months after completion. The collapse was captured on film. There were no human deaths in
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#17327730621034752-501: A joint study on the logistics of building and constructing the bridge. Because of restrictions by the TBTA's bondholders, construction could not begin until at least 1957. Frederick H. Zurmuhlen, the Commissioner of Public Works, estimated that the Narrows Bridge would cost $ 200 million total. He encouraged the TBTA to start construction on the bridge as soon as possible in order to reduce congestion on East River crossings to
4968-401: A long history in many mountainous parts of the world. Besides the bridge type most commonly called suspension bridges, covered in this article, there are other types of suspension bridges . The type covered here has cables suspended between towers , with vertical suspender cables that transfer the live and dead loads of the deck below, upon which traffic crosses. This arrangement allows
5184-401: A motorcade to mark the official opening of the bridge. A 50-cent toll was charged to all motorists crossing the bridge. The Verrazano Bridge's opening was celebrated across Staten Island. Moses did not invite any of the 12,000 workers to the opening, so they boycotted the event and instead attended a mass in memory of the three workers who died during construction. The opening was accompanied by
5400-465: A nine-person committee, appointed by Lehman and chaired by Moses, applied to the RFC for a $ 150 million loan for projects in New York state, including the Triborough Bridge. However, although the RFC favored a loan for the Triborough project, the new mayor, John P. O'Brien , banned the RFC from giving loans to the city. Instead, O'Brien wanted to create a bridge authority to sell bonds to pay for
5616-555: A pedestrian suspension bridge over the Machchhu River in the city of Morbi, Gujarat, India collapsed, leading to the deaths of at least 141 people. Triborough Bridge The Robert F. Kennedy Bridge ( RFK Bridge ; also known by its previous name, the Triborough Bridge ) is a complex of bridges and elevated expressway viaducts in New York City . The bridges link the boroughs of Manhattan , Queens , and
5832-647: A proposal by Robert Stevenson for a bridge over the River Almond near Edinburgh . Roebling's Delaware Aqueduct (begun 1847) consists of three sections supported by cables. The timber structure essentially hides the cables; and from a quick view, it is not immediately apparent that it is even a suspension bridge. The main suspension cables in older bridges were often made from a chain or linked bars, but modern bridge cables are made from multiple strands of wire. This not only adds strength but improves reliability (often called redundancy in engineering terms) because
6048-472: A provision that the authority could sell up to $ 35 million in bonds and fund the remainder of construction through bridge tolls. George Gordon Battle, a Tammany Hall attorney, was appointed as chairman of the new authority, and three commissioners were appointed. Shortly after the TBA bill was signed, the War Department extended its deadline for the Triborough Bridge's completion by three years, to April 28, 1936. Lehman also signed bills to clear land for
6264-551: A public necessity should not be provided by private interests. A prior attempt to link Brooklyn and Staten Island, using the Staten Island Tunnel , had commenced in 1923 but was canceled two years later. That tunnel would have extended New York City Subway service from Brooklyn to Staten Island. This proposal was also revived with the announcement of the Liberty Bridge. One of the alternative proposals had
6480-479: A result of the faster-than-anticipated rate of progress, the TBTA decided to open the bridge in November 1964. In preparation for the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge's opening, the TBTA fully repainted the structure. The construction process of the bridge had employed an average of 1,200 workers a day for five years, excluding those who had worked on the approaches; around 10,000 individuals had worked on
6696-497: A result, they must be built to accommodate the clearance under the bridge. At mean high water, that clearance is 228 ft (69 m). The RMS Queen Mary 2 , one such vessel built to Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge specifications, was designed with a flatter funnel to pass under the bridge, and has 13 ft (3.96 m) of clearance under the bridge during high tide. Each of the two suspension towers contains around 1 million bolts and 3 million rivets. The towers contain
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6912-403: A result. This unidirectional collection remained in effect through 2020, when two-way tolls were restored. The TBTA spent $ 45 million in the 1990s on repairs to the deck, which had been damaged by chloride from the seawater. As part of the project, the top 3 inches (76 mm) of the deck was removed and latex-modified concrete poured in its place. The TBTA also allocated $ 30 million to repaint
7128-541: A sequence generally described as follows. Depending on length and size, construction may take anywhere between a year and a half (construction on the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge took only 19 months) up to as long as a decade (the Akashi-Kaikyō Bridge's construction began in May 1986 and was opened in May 1998 – a total of twelve years). Suspension bridges are typically ranked by the length of their main span. These are
7344-406: A six-by-eleven grid. Shafts of reinforced concrete would be built along the inner rim of each opening, and once each section of shaft reached 40 feet (12 m) above water level, cranes with clamshell buckets would dig the sand and mud inside each shaft before sinking the shafts deeper into the water. The Staten Island side's caisson was sunk 105 ft (32 m) into the water, and necessitated
7560-538: A steel grid so that the suspender cables would not rip it apart. Architectural critic Ada Louise Huxtable derided the new flag as a "simple-minded, vainglorious proposal" and asked, "Does anyone really want to spend $ 850,000 to upstage the Statue of Liberty?" The TBTA stopped collecting tolls for Brooklyn-bound drivers on the Verrazzano Bridge in 1986 and doubled the toll for Staten Island-bound drivers. This
7776-695: A suspension span across the East River to Queens; a truss span across Bronx Kill to the Bronx; a fixed span across the Harlem River to Manhattan; and a steel arch viaduct across the no-longer-extant Little Hell Gate between Randalls and Wards Islands. In August 1929, plans for the bridge were submitted to the United States Department of War for approval to ensure that the proposed Tri-Borough Bridge would not block any maritime navigation routes. Railroad and shipping groups objected that
7992-499: A temporary walkway. Poured sockets are used to make a high strength, permanent cable termination. They are created by inserting the suspender wire rope (at the bridge deck supports) into the narrow end of a conical cavity which is oriented in-line with the intended direction of strain. The individual wires are splayed out inside the cone or 'capel', and the cone is then filled with molten lead-antimony-tin (Pb80Sb15Sn5) solder. Most suspension bridges have open truss structures to support
8208-685: A toll from 1986 to 2020 in an attempt to reduce traffic congestion. A bridge across the Narrows had been proposed as early as 1926 or 1927, when structural engineer David B. Steinman brought up the possibility of such a crossing. At the time, Staten Island was isolated from the rest of New York City, and its only direct connection to the city's other four boroughs was by the Staten Island Ferry to South Ferry in Manhattan , or by ferries to 39th and 69th Streets in Brooklyn . In 1928,
8424-560: A total of 142,520 mi (229,364 km) in length. Numerous birds nest or roost on the bridge, most notably breeding peregrine falcons . The falcons nest at the top of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge's towers, as well as on the Throgs Neck and Marine Parkway Bridges. As the falcons are endangered, the city places bands on each bird and examines the birds' nesting sites each year. The falcons were discovered on
8640-465: A total of 9,176 wires in each cable. The wires are fastened together by "strand shoes", placed at regular intervals. At the Wards Island and Astoria ends of the suspension span, there are two anchorages that hold the main cables. The anchorages contain a combined 133,500 tons of concrete. There are also bents atop each anchorage, which conceal the ends of each main cable. The Harlem River span
8856-417: A two-year extension for the start of construction. In a measure passed in March 1955, the city gained control over the approval process for several tasks related to the Narrows bridge's construction, including land acquisition. A little more than a month later, New York governor W. Averell Harriman signed a $ 600 million spending bill authorizing the construction of the Narrows Bridge; the construction of
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9072-485: Is 300 feet (91 m) offshore from Staten Island, while the eastern tower is 700 feet (210 m) offshore from Brooklyn. The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge is classified as a fracture critical bridge , making it vulnerable to collapse if parts of the offshore towers were to fail. The March 2024 collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge raised awareness and concern about other bridges nationwide, especially with ship traffic being diverted to other area ports. A few weeks weeks after
9288-499: Is 55 feet (17 m) above mean high water. The three spans of the RFK Bridge intersect at a grade-separated T-interchange on Randalls Island. The span to Manhattan intersects perpendicularly with the I-278 viaduct between the Bronx and Queens spans. Although I-278 is signed as a west-east highway, the orientation of I-278 on the bridge is closer to a north-south alignment, with the southbound roadway carrying westbound traffic, and
9504-463: Is a lift bridge that connects Manhattan with Randalls Island, designed by chief engineer Ammann. It carries six lanes of New York State Route 900G ( NY 900G ), an unsigned reference route , as well as two sidewalks, one on each side. The span connects to FDR Drive and Harlem River Drive , as well as the intersection of Second Avenue and East 125th Street , in East Harlem , Manhattan. At
9720-553: Is a truss bridge that connects the Bronx with Randalls Island. It carries eight lanes of I-278, as well as two sidewalks, one on each side. The span connects to Major Deegan Expressway ( I-87 ) and the Bruckner Expressway (I-278) in Mott Haven, Bronx . It originally connected to the intersection of East 134th Street and Cypress Avenue, a site now occupied by the interchange between I-87 and I-278. The truss span
9936-542: Is made of four segments. The three primary spans traverse the East River to Queens; the Harlem River to Manhattan; and Bronx Kill to the Bronx, while the fourth is a T-shaped approach viaduct that leads to an interchange plaza between the three primary spans on Randalls Island. The Queens arm of the viaduct formerly crossed Little Hell Gate, a creek located between Randalls Island to the north and Wards Island to
10152-562: Is owned by Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority bondholders who paid for the bridge at its construction. It is operated by the TBTA, which is an affiliate agency of the MTA, using the business name MTA Bridges and Tunnels . The bridge carries Interstate 278 , which continues onto the Staten Island Expressway to the west and the Gowanus Expressway to the northeast. The Verrazzano, in combination with
10368-464: Is supported by a set of three octagonal columns. The viaduct is mostly eight lanes wide, except at the former locations of the toll plazas, where it widens. The viaduct once traversed Little Hell Gate, a small creek that formerly separated Randalls Island to the north and Wards Island to the south; the waterway has since been filled in. The viaduct rose 62 feet (19 m) above the mean high water of Little Hell Gate. Edward A. Byrne , chief engineer of
10584-442: Is suspended by a total of 96 wire ropes, which are wrapped around pulleys with 15-foot (4.6 m) diameters. These pulleys, in turn, are powered by four motors that can operate at 200 horsepower (149 kW). NY 900G is officially maintained as a north–south route, despite its largely east-west progression. The entire route is in the New York City borough of Manhattan . All exits are unnumbered. The Bronx Kill span
10800-565: The Atlantic Ocean . It is the only fixed crossing of the Narrows. The double-deck bridge carries 13 lanes of Interstate 278 : seven on the upper level and six on the lower level. The span is named for Giovanni da Verrazzano , who in 1524 was the first European explorer to enter New York Harbor and the Hudson River . Engineer David B. Steinman proposed a bridge across the Narrows in the late 1920s, but plans were deferred over
11016-551: The Belt Parkway interchange were also rearranged to allow for a ramp to be constructed for the new HOV lane on the upper deck. The parts for this deck were ordered from China because the parts that the MTA required were no longer manufactured in the United States. After the upper deck was replaced, parts of the lower deck are to be replaced, but this necessitates the closure of the lower deck during construction. Hence,
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#173277306210311232-836: The Dryburgh Abbey Bridge (1817) and 137 m Union Bridge (1820), with spans rapidly increasing to 176 m with the Menai Bridge (1826), "the first important modern suspension bridge". The first chain bridge on the German speaking territories was the Chain Bridge in Nuremberg . The Sagar Iron Suspension Bridge with a 200 feet span (also termed Beose Bridge) was constructed near Sagar, India during 1828–1830 by Duncan Presgrave, Mint and Assay Master. The Clifton Suspension Bridge (designed in 1831, completed in 1864 with
11448-777: The East River Drive (now the FDR Drive), and Harlem River Drive in Manhattan; and Whitlock Avenue and Eastern Boulevard (now Bruckner Expressway ) in the Bronx. The first of those roads, the Grand Central Parkway, was planned to start construction in early 1934. That July, the Department of War approved the Bronx Kill span as a fixed truss span, since the Bronx Kill was not a navigable waterway;
11664-664: The Goethals Bridge and the Staten Island Expressway, created a new way for commuters and travelers to reach Brooklyn, Long Island, and Manhattan by car from New Jersey. At the time of opening, the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world ; its 4,260-foot center span, between the two suspension towers, was 60 feet (18 m) longer than the Golden Gate Bridge's center span. Despite being only slightly longer than
11880-836: The Mahakam River , located in Kutai Kartanegara Regency , East Kalimantan district on the Indonesia island of Borneo , was built in 1995, completed in 2001 and collapsed in 2011. Dozens of vehicles on the bridge fell into the Mahakam River . As a result of this incident, 24 people died and dozens of others were injured and were treated at the Aji Muhammad Parikesit Regional Hospital. Meanwhile, 12 people were reported missing, 31 people were seriously injured, and 8 people had minor injuries. Research findings indicate that
12096-591: The New York City Board of Estimate allocated $ 50,000 toward a feasibility study of the tunnel. By this time, Bay Ridge residents now opposed the tunnel plan as well, because they feared that the tunnel's construction would lower the quality of life in that neighborhood. After the war ended in 1945, the Planning Commission estimated that construction of the Narrows Tunnel would cost $ 73.5 million. However, by then, La Guardia had turned against
12312-729: The Public Works Administration (PWA)'s resident engineer for the project. The East River span, a suspension bridge across the Hell Gate of the East River, connects Queens with Wards Island. It carries eight lanes of Interstate 278 , four in each direction, as well as a sidewalk on the northeastern side. The span connects to Grand Central Parkway , and indirectly to the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway (I-278), in Astoria, Queens . Originally it connected to
12528-442: The Seaview Hospital on Staten Island , which would house the hospital facilities displaced by the Triborough Bridge. Homes in Astoria and wooden docks were also demolished to make way for the bridge. Moses continued to advocate for new roads and parkways to connect with the bridge as part of an interconnected parkway system. The complex of roads included the Grand Central Parkway and Astoria Boulevard in Queens; 125th Street ,
12744-414: The Throgs Neck Bridge between Queens and the Bronx ; and the addition of a second level to the George Washington Bridge between Manhattan and New Jersey . Later that year, it was announced that the Narrows Bridge would be part of an expansion to the Interstate Highway System . Although a study on the viability of adding transit service to the Narrows Bridge was commissioned in early 1956, Moses rejected
12960-402: The mercury vapor fixtures in the bridge's necklace lighting were replaced with energy-efficient light-emitting diodes . This retrofit was completed in 2009, years before LED street lights were installed in the rest of the city. The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge's name was originally spelled with one "z". The "Verrazano" name dates to 1960 when governor Rockefeller had signed the bill authorizing
13176-456: The "Verrazano" name. In response to the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce's opposition, the TBTA offered to add a hyphen between "Verrazano" and "Narrows". Suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridges , which lack vertical suspenders, have
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#173277306210313392-437: The Baltimore bridge collapse, in early April, a large container ship had propulsion problems near the Verrazzano and was assisted by several tugboats. Authorities were confident that riprap , or piles of rocks, around the towers' bases would ground a stray ship before it could hit a tower. The diameters of each of the four main suspension cables is 36 in (914 mm). Each main cable is composed of 26,108 wires amounting to
13608-405: The Bronx . The viaducts cross Randalls and Wards Islands , previously two islands and now joined by landfill. The RFK Bridge, a toll bridge , carries Interstate 278 (I-278) as well as the unsigned highway New York State Route 900G. It connects with the FDR Drive and the Harlem River Drive in Manhattan, the Bruckner Expressway (I-278) and the Major Deegan Expressway ( Interstate 87 ) in
13824-419: The Bronx Kills, East River, and Little Hell Gate spans in late April 1930, after construction was already underway on the Queens suspension span across the East River. A week later, the War Department also approved the Harlem River span, with another amendment: the span was now a movable lift bridge, which could be raised to allow maritime traffic to pass. Shortly afterward, a special mayoral committee sanctioned
14040-475: The Bronx approach was delayed after the city's corporation council found that the approach could not be built using federal funds. By October 1935, the Queens approach and the Randalls and Wards Islands viaduct was nearly complete. Vertical suspender cables had been hung from the main cables of the Queens suspension span, and the steel slabs to support the span's roadway deck were being erected. The concrete piers supporting Bronx span were still being constructed, and
14256-401: The Bronx due to low demand. Connolly also said that a bridge between Queens and Manhattan needed to be built further downstream, closer to the Queensboro Bridge , which at the time was the only bridge between the two boroughs. The Port of New York Authority included the proposed Tri-Borough Bridge in a report to the New York state legislature in 1921. The following year, the planned bridge
14472-419: The Bronx end of the bridge along Southern Boulevard . Robert Moses , the Long Island state parks commissioner, wanted to expand Grand Central Parkway from its western terminus at the time, Union Turnpike in Kew Gardens, Queens , northwest to the proposed bridge. The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway proposal, which would create a highway from the Queens end of the bridge to Queens Boulevard in Woodside, Queens ,
14688-513: The Bronx voted for the allocation of the funds, while the presidents of Queens and Staten Island agreed with Hylan, who preferred the construction of the new subway system instead of the Tri-Borough Bridge. The bridge allocation was ultimately not approved. Another attempt at obtaining funds was declined in 1924, although there was a possibility that the bridge could be built based on assessment plans that were being procured. The Tri-Borough Bridge project finally received funding in June 1925, when
14904-446: The Bronx, and an as-yet-undetermined location in Queens. It would parallel the Hell Gate Bridge , a railroad bridge connecting Queens and the Bronx via Randalls and Wards Islands. Plans for the Tri-Borough Bridge were bolstered by the 1919 closure of a ferry between Yorkville in Manhattan and Astoria in Queens. A bill to construct the bridge was proposed in the New York State Legislature in 1920. Gustav Lindenthal , who had designed
15120-431: The Bronx, and the Grand Central Parkway (I-278) and Astoria Boulevard in Queens. The three primary bridges of the RFK Bridge complex are: These three bridges are connected by an elevated highway viaduct across Randalls and Wards Islands and 14 miles (23 km) of support roads. The viaduct includes a smaller span across the former site of Little Hell Gate , which separated Randalls and Wards Islands. Also part of
15336-450: The Brooklyn approaches back to Belt Parkway, which was almost identical to the bill Harriman had vetoed. However, the city approved the Seventh Avenue bridge approach in August 1958. The next month, mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. said that the city was committed to building a bridge across the Narrows, but was not committed to the construction of the Seventh Avenue approach. In response, Moses wrote to Wagner that any continuing delays would cause
15552-434: The East River suspension span. Less than a week afterward, the first temporary wires were strung between the two towers of the suspension span. The wires in the main cables were laid by machines that traveled along these temporary wires. A contract for the Harlem River lift span's steel superstructure was awarded that May, followed by a contract for the Bronx Kill truss span's structure the following month. The spinning of
15768-607: The Golden Gate Bridge, the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge could carry a 75% greater load than the former could. In 1981, the Verrazzano Bridge was surpassed by the Humber Bridge in England, which has a center span of 4,626 ft (1,410 m), as the world's longest suspension bridge. The upper and lower levels are supported by trusses underneath each roadway, which stiffen the bridge against vertical, torsional, and lateral pressure. There are also lateral trusses on either side of
15984-597: The Gowanus Expressway in Brooklyn. On December 31 of that year, the Board of Estimate voted to approve plans for the Seventh Avenue approach, having delayed that vote several times. The approval of the Seventh Avenue approach angered Bay Ridge residents since the construction of the approach would displace 7,500 people. Opposition in Staten Island was far smaller. More than twice as many people were being displaced there, but Staten Island stood to benefit from
16200-528: The Hell Gate Bridge, criticized the Tri-Borough plan as "uncalled for", as the new Tri-Borough Bridge would parallel the existing Hell Gate Bridge. He stated that the Hell Gate Bridge could be retrofitted with an upper deck for vehicular and pedestrian use. Queens borough president Maurice K. Connolly also opposed the bridge, arguing that there was no need to construct a span between Queens and
16416-432: The Liberty Bridge to a "Crosstown Highway", spanning Brooklyn and Queens and connecting to the proposed Triborough Bridge in northwestern Queens. The city also envisioned a possible connection to the preexisting Manhattan Bridge , connecting Downtown Brooklyn to Lower Manhattan . However, a vote on the planned Liberty Bridge was never taken, as it was blocked by then-Congressman Fiorello H. La Guardia , who believed that
16632-528: The MTA opted to replace the upper deck first to add more capacity. The upper level's new HOV lane opened on June 22, 2017. The MTA dismantled the Staten Island-bound toll booths in 2017 to speed up westbound traffic. This work was done in advance of the reconstruction of tracks around Penn Station , which severely limited rail service into that station and created more vehicular traffic at crossings to Manhattan. The MTA accelerated some components of
16848-435: The MTA's headquarters at 2 Broadway in the 1980s. The building was renamed after Moses in 1989. The interchange plaza connects with the over-water spans via a three-legged concrete viaduct that has a total length of more than 2.5 miles (4.0 km). The segments of the viaduct rest atop steel girders , which in turn are placed perpendicularly between concrete piers spaced 60 to 140 feet (18 to 43 m) apart. Each pier
17064-479: The Narrows Bridge by way of Seventh Avenue, which would require cutting through the middle of Bay Ridge. This proposal drew opposition from the community, who wanted the approach to follow the Belt Parkway along the Brooklyn shore. These opponents said that the Seventh Avenue alignment would displace over 1,500 families. In February 1958, the New York State Legislature approved a bill to change
17280-420: The Narrows Bridge plan, other than a request that it be allowed to operate the future bridge. Following the War Department's announcement that they would oppose the Narrows bridge, private interests began studying the feasibility of a tunnel under the Narrows. In 1936, the plan for a Narrows crossing was brought up again when now-New York City mayor La Guardia gained authorization to petition the U.S. Congress for
17496-495: The Narrows Bridge. The only tasks remaining before the start of construction were to finalize the design of the Narrows Bridge, and to speed up the construction schedule to meet a 1964 deadline. In April 1959, the bridge was officially renamed after the Italian navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano . This sparked a controversy because the proposed bridge's name only had one "z" while the explorer's name had two "z"s. Surveying work for
17712-538: The Narrows, with 800-foot-tall towers. Supporters hoped that the new construction would spur development on Staten Island, along with the Outerbridge Crossing and the Bayonne Bridge , which were under construction at the time. The Liberty Bridge would carry vehicles from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn , to an as-yet-undetermined location on Staten Island. On the Brooklyn side, the city planned to connect
17928-638: The New York City Department of Plant and Structures, first announced plans for connecting Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx in 1916. The next year, the Harlem Boards of Trade and Commerce and the Harlem Luncheon Association announced their support for such a bridge, which was proposed to cost $ 10 million. The "Tri-Borough Bridge", as it was called, would connect 125th Street in Manhattan, St. Ann's Avenue in
18144-498: The New York state legislature voted to approve the Tri-Borough Bridge as well as a prison on Rikers Island before adjourning for the fiscal year. The same month, New York state governor Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the bill to approve the relocation of about 700 beds in Wards Island's mental hospital, which were in the way of the proposed bridge's suspension span to Queens. The New York state legislature later approved
18360-401: The Queens side was 15% completed. Work on drainage dikes, as well as contracts for bridge approach piers, were also progressing. A report the next month indicated that the overall project was 6% completed, and that another $ 2.45 million in contracts was planned to be awarded over the following year. In October, contracts for constructing the bridge piers were advertised. By December 1931,
18576-400: The RFC grant until the existing funds could be accounted for. Ickes also warned that he would cancel the RFC grant if the political disputes regarding the TBA were not cleared up. After O'Leary was removed, La Guardia appointed Moses to fill O'Leary's position, and Ickes also promised to give $ 1.5 million toward the bridge's construction, which the city received that March. Moses became
18792-656: The River Danube in Budapest, was also designed by William Clark and it is a larger-scale version of Marlow Bridge. An interesting variation is Thornewill and Warham 's Ferry Bridge in Burton-on-Trent , Staffordshire (1889), where the chains are not attached to abutments as is usual, but instead are attached to the main girders, which are thus in compression. Here, the chains are made from flat wrought iron plates, eight inches (203 mm) wide by an inch and
19008-552: The River Paiva, Arouca Geopark , Portugal, opened in April 2021. The 516 metres bridge hangs 175 meters above the river. Where such a bridge spans a gap between two buildings, there is no need to construct towers, as the buildings can anchor the cables. Cable suspension may also be augmented by the inherent stiffness of a structure that has much in common with a tubular bridge . Typical suspension bridges are constructed using
19224-575: The Staten Island Expressway and the Verrazano Bridge, saw its daily average use increase by 75%, or approximately 300,000 trips total, compared to before the Narrows Bridge opened. The Holland Tunnel from New Jersey to Manhattan, and the Staten Island Ferry from Staten Island to Manhattan, both saw decreased vehicle counts after the bridge opened. In summer 1965, Staten Island saw increased patronage at its beaches, facilitated by
19440-475: The Staten Island anchorage, which had only been partially filled with concrete. This strike lasted several months and affected many projects under the city. As construction on the anchorages proceeded, two watertight caissons were sunk into the channel close to either shoreline, so that the bridge's suspension towers could be built atop each caisson. The bases of each caisson consisted of sixty-six circular openings each 17 feet (5.2 m) in diameter, arranged in
19656-484: The TBA unless Moses resigned the post of either TBA chairman or New York City Parks Commissioner . This came as a result of Moses's criticism that New Deal funding programs like the PWA were too slow to disburse funds. Moses refused to resign in spite of Ickes's persistence, and Ickes threatened to withhold salaries for TBA workers as well. Though La Guardia was supportive of Moses, even petitioning Roosevelt for help, he
19872-633: The TBTA again but was turned down a second time. The explorer's name had previously been suggested for the George Washington Bridge , located several miles north, in 1931. The Italian Historical Society later successfully lobbied to get a bill introduced in the New York State Assembly to name the bridge for the explorer. After the introduction of the bill, the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce joined
20088-497: The TBTA decided to erect the lower deck at a cost of $ 22 million. The Verrazzano Bridge had not been expected to carry enough traffic to necessitate a second deck until 1978, but traffic patterns over the previous five years had demonstrated the need for extra capacity. By contrast, a lower deck on the George Washington Bridge, connecting New Jersey and Upper Manhattan, had not been built until 31 years after
20304-422: The TBTA was put in charge of funding and building the bridge. To raise money for construction, Rockefeller signed a bill that would remove the 4% ceiling on the interest rates for the securities that the TBTA was selling to pay for the bridge. This ceiling would be lifted until June 1965. In essence, this meant that the TBTA could sell securities at much higher interest rates to raise the $ 320 million that
20520-406: The Tri-Borough plan, as did several merchants' associations, construction was delayed for a year because of a lack of funds. The Board of Estimate did approve $ 150,000 in May 1927 for preliminary borings and soundings. That September, a group of entrepreneurs proposed to fund the bridge privately. Under this plan, the bridge would be set up as a toll bridge , and ownership would be transferred to
20736-442: The Triborough Bridge [...] where would we draw the line?" Governor Al Smith agreed, saying that such requests were unnecessary because the bridge could pay for itself. Harvey continued to push for federal funding for the Triborough Bridge, prioritizing its completion over other projects such as the development of Jamaica Bay in southern Queens. Civic groups also advocated for the city to apply for RFC funding. In February 1933,
20952-555: The United States, the first major wire-cable suspension bridge was the Wire Bridge at Fairmount in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Designed by Charles Ellet Jr. and completed in 1842, it had a span of 109 m. Ellet's Niagara Falls suspension bridge (1847–48) was abandoned before completion. It was used as scaffolding for John A. Roebling 's double decker railroad and carriage bridge (1855). The Otto Beit Bridge (1938–1939)
21168-462: The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge began in January 1959. Construction officially began on August 14, 1959, with a groundbreaking ceremony on the Staten Island anchorage. Those in attendance included New Jersey governor Meyner, New York City mayor Wagner, and TBTA chairman Moses. Although Rockefeller had been invited to the event, neither he nor Assembly speaker Joseph F. Carlino showed up. In December 1959,
21384-416: The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge opened, the ferry from Staten Island to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, stopped running, as it was now redundant to the new bridge. Within the first two months of the bridge's opening, 1.86 million vehicles had used the new crossing, 10% more than originally projected, and this netted the TBTA almost $ 1 million in toll revenue. The Goethals Bridge , which connected New Jersey to
21600-548: The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge's reconstruction during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City in 2020, rebuilding the westbound approach ramp from the Gowanus Expressway and adding a fourth lane along that ramp. This also allowed for an extensive renovation of the towers' pedestals. Long-term plans also call for the installation of a bicycle and pedestrian path on the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge
21816-413: The War Department announced its opposition to the Narrows Bridge's construction. The War Department's opposition to the bridge plan was based on the fact that a bridge could create a blockage during wartime, a rationale it gave for opposing a Brooklyn–Battery Bridge connecting Red Hook, Brooklyn , with Lower Manhattan. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey did not have a public position regarding
22032-444: The bridge and approaches gray; this project began in 1998. Workers also repaired the bridge's anchorages and replaced the roadways atop the anchorages. The repairs to the anchorages and electrical systems were completed in 2002, and workers finished repainting the bridge the next year. In addition, a minor project to clean and repaint both of the decks (mostly the bottom deck) took place between 2004 and 2008. Beginning in 2008, all 262 of
22248-413: The bridge as being 237 ft (72 m) above the mean high water level, enough for the 215-foot (66 m) RMS Queen Mary to pass under it. Moses and acting Port Authority Chairman Bayard F. Pope were agreeable to letting either of their respective agencies construct and operate the proposed Narrows Bridge, as long as that agency could do so efficiently. In 1954, the two agencies started conducting
22464-432: The bridge deck. Before the deck is installed, the cables are under tension from their own weight. Along the main cables smaller cables or rods connect to the bridge deck, which is lifted in sections. As this is done, the tension in the cables increases, as it does with the live load of traffic crossing the bridge. The tension on the main cables is transferred to the ground at the anchorages and by downwards compression on
22680-453: The bridge is 700 feet (213 m). The towers are 210 feet (64 m) above mean high water. Each of the lift towers is supported by two clusters of four columns, which supports the bridge deck. A curved truss at the top of each pair of column clusters forms an arch directly underneath the deck. The lift span is 55 feet (17 m) above mean high water in the "closed" position, but can be raised to 135 feet (41 m). The movable section
22896-488: The bridge proposal in May 1949, over the vociferous opposition of Bay Ridge residents, on the condition that construction start within five years. By that time, plans for the 6,540-foot (1,990 m) span had been finalized, and the project only needed $ 78 million in financing in order to proceed. This financing was not set to be awarded until 1950, when the Battery Tunnel was completed. Preliminary plans showed
23112-470: The bridge throughout that five-year period. Three men died during the construction of the bridge. The first fatality was 58-year-old Paul Bassett, who fell off the deck and struck a tower in August 1962. Irving Rubin, also 58 years old, died in July 1963, when he fell off of the bridge approach. The third worker who died was 19-year-old Gerard McKee, who fell into the water in October 1963, after slipping off
23328-400: The bridge to be canceled. The bridge's cost had now risen to $ 320 million. After holding a hearing for concerned Bay Ridge residents, the Board of Estimate affirmed the Narrows Bridge plan in October 1958, without any objections. At the same time, it rejected plans for a tunnel under the Narrows, as well as a bridge or tunnel from Brooklyn directly to Jersey City, New Jersey . The Board
23544-430: The bridge to reach a level of traffic where all sixteen lanes were needed. In April, a new plan was approved that would reduce the bridge's cost from $ 51 million to $ 42 million. Chief engineer Ammann had decided to collapse the original design's two-deck roadway into one, requiring lighter towers and lighter piers. The steel company constructing the towers challenged the TBA's decision in an appellate court, but
23760-491: The bridge was constructed with only one six-lane roadway, Ammann had provided extra trusses to support a potential second roadway underneath the main deck. These trusses, which were used to strengthen the bridge, were a design alteration that was added to many bridges in the aftermath of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse in 1940. The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge became so popular among motorists that in March 1969,
23976-497: The bridge's 1931 opening. The new six-lane deck opened on June 28, 1969. Originally, the Verrazzano Bridge's Brooklyn end was also supposed to connect to the planned Cross-Brooklyn Expressway , New York State Route 878 , and JFK Airport , but the Cross-Brooklyn Expressway project was canceled in 1969. On June 26, 1976, to celebrate the United States' 200th anniversary, workers placed a very large U.S. flag on
24192-479: The bridge's cables. The American Bridge Company was selected to construct the cables and deck. The cable-spinning process began in March 1963, and took six months, since 142,520 mi (229,360 km) of bridge cables had to be strung 104,432 times around the bridge. The main cables were hung on both sides of the span, and then suspender cables were hung from the bridge's main cables. The main cables were fully spun by August. In late 1963, builders started receiving
24408-459: The bridge's construction for The New York Times . The book also contains several drawings by Lili Réthi and photographs by Bruce Davidson. The Staten Island approach to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was the first part of the new project to be completed, and it opened in January 1964. The upper deck was opened on November 21, 1964, at a cost of $ 320 million (equivalent to $ 3.144 billion in present dollars). Politicians at all levels of
24624-410: The bridge's main cables run. These are topped by 30-foot (9.1 m) decorative lanterns with red aircraft warning lights . The span is supported by two main cables, which suspend the deck and are held up by the suspension towers. Each cable is 20 inches (51 cm) in diameter and contains 10,800 miles (17,400 km) of individual wires. Each main cable is composed of 37 strands of 248 wires, for
24840-451: The bridge's name as such. A bill to formally change the bridge's name to the variant with two "z"s was introduced by college student Robert Nash in 2016, but it stalled in early 2018. The New York State Senate voted to change the name of the bridge in June 2018, and the name change was officially signed into law that October. In 2011, the city began a $ 1.5 billion construction project at
25056-414: The bridge's suspension towers were the tallest structures in New York City outside of Manhattan. The towers do not use cross-bracing, unlike similar suspension bridges; instead, there are arched struts near the top of each tower and below the lower deck. At the base of each tower is a concrete-and-granite pedestal, which rests on a caisson measuring 129 by 229 feet (39 by 70 m) across. The western tower
25272-404: The bridge, Moses warned them of steep fines if the expressways were not completed by the time the bridge was finished. An anchorage was built on each side of the Narrows, with each anchorage measuring 229 ft (70 m) long by 129 ft (39 m) wide, and containing a combined 780,000 short tons (700,000 long tons) of steel and concrete. Each anchorage contained sixty-six large holes for
25488-588: The bridge, the TBTA destroyed the structures at the future locations of the anchorages. The agency acquired 36 acres (15 ha) of the 138 acres (56 ha) within Fort Hamilton, in return for paying for a $ 12 million renovation of the Army installation and giving up 10.8 acres (4.4 ha) of land in Dyker Beach Park . A 1,000-ton World War I monument on the Brooklyn side, within the path of
25704-465: The bridge. At the time, it was expected to take up to 25 years. The first phase, which cost $ 235 million and lasted until 2017, involved constructing a seventh lane on the upper deck, which was to be used as a high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane . The old median barrier was demolished, and the old deck was replaced with orthotropic decking . Related work also included the repainting the bridge's supports with corrosion-resistant paint. The ramps within
25920-403: The cables. The bases of each anchorage are built on glacial sands, reaching 52 feet (16 m) below ground level on the Brooklyn side, and 76 feet (23 m) below ground level on the Staten Island side. Foundation work for the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was well underway by 1960, as visitors were able to see the anchorages. A concrete workers' strike in mid-1961 threatened the timely completion of
26136-440: The caissons were sunk completely, the shafts inside each caisson were filled with water, and the bases of the caissons were covered by a sheet of reinforced concrete. The process of constructing the anchorages and caissons took just over two years, and it was complete by the end of 1961. Two separate companies later constructed the modules that would make up the 693 ft-tall (211 m) suspension towers. The Staten Island tower
26352-497: The catwalk. After McKee's death, workers participated in a five-day strike in December 1963. The strike resulted in temporary safety nets being installed underneath the deck. These nets had not been provided during the four years prior to the strike. The construction of the bridge was chronicled by the writer Gay Talese in his 1964 book The Bridge: The Building of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge . He also wrote several articles about
26568-455: The chairman of the TBA in April 1934, after a series of interim chairmen had held the post. Moses, who also had positions in the state and city governments, sought to expedite the project, awarding a contract in May for the construction of an approach highway to the Queens span. A contract to clear land in the bridge's right-of-way was awarded in April 1934, and work began that month. Over 300 buildings had to be destroyed. Families living in
26784-516: The chambers of commerce in Brooklyn, Queens , Long Island , and Staten Island announced that the Interboro Bridge Company had proposed the future construction of the "Liberty Bridge" to the United States Department of War . The bridge's towers would be 800 feet (240 m) high and it would cost $ 60 million in 1928 dollars. In November 1929, engineers released plans for the 4,500-foot (1,400 m) Liberty Bridge spanning
27000-419: The city appropriated $ 50,000 for surveys, test borings and structural plans. Work started on a tentative design for the bridge. By December 1926, the $ 50,000 allotment had been spent on bores. Around the same time, the proposal to convert the Hell Gate Bridge resurfaced. Albert Goldman, the Commissioner of Plant and Structures, had finished a tentative report for the Tri-Borough Bridge by that time; however, it
27216-502: The city once the bridge was paid for. In August 1928, Mayor Jimmy Walker received a similar proposal from the Long Island Board of Commerce to build the Tri-Borough Bridge using $ 32 million of private capital. The Queens Chamber of Commerce also favored setting up tolls on the bridge to pay for its construction. Yet another plan called for financing the bridge using proceeds from a bond issue, which would also pay for
27432-561: The city's Board of Estimate voted to hire 18,000 workers to work on the Triborough project. The funds for the Triborough Bridge, as well as for the Lincoln Tunnel from Manhattan to New Jersey , were ready by the beginning of September. The city purchased land in the path of the Triborough Bridge in September 1933, and construction on the Triborough Bridge resumed that November. By January 1934, contracts were being prepared for
27648-529: The collapse was largely caused by the construction failure of the vertical hanging clamp. It was also found that poor maintenance, fatigue in the cable hanger construction materials, material quality, and bridge loads that exceed vehicle capacity, can also have an impact on bridge collapse. In 2013 the Kutai Kartanegara Bridge rebuilt the same location and completed in 2015 with a Through arch bridge design. On 30 October 2022, Jhulto Pul ,
27864-467: The collapse; several drivers escaped their cars on foot and reached the anchorages before the span dropped. Yarmouth suspension bridge (England) was built in 1829 and collapsed in 1845, killing 79 people. Peace River Suspension Bridge (Canada), which was completed in 1943, collapsed when the north anchor's soil support for the suspension bridge failed in October 1957. The entire bridge subsequently collapsed. Kutai Kartanegara Bridge (Indonesia) over
28080-582: The company originally contracted to build the piers, the Albert A. Volk Company, refused to carry out the contract. In early December, the contract for the piers was reassigned to the McMullen Company. Meanwhile, the Board was condemning the land in the path of the bridge's approaches. However, this process was also postponed because homeowners wanted to sell their property to the city at exceedingly high prices. The War Department gave its approval to
28296-416: The completion of the suspension span and the construction of the other three spans; one of these contracts included the construction of the bridge's piers. That February, the TBA contemplated condensing the Queens span's 16-lane, double-deck roadway into an 8-lane, single deck road, as well as simplify the suspension towers' designs, to save $ 5 million. According to the agency, it would take 40 years for
28512-443: The complex is a grade-separated T-interchange on Randalls Island, which sorted out traffic in a way that ensured that drivers paid a toll at only one bank of tollbooths. The tollbooths have since been removed, and all tolls are collected electronically at the approaches to each bridge. The bridge complex was designed by Allston Dana with the collaboration of Othmar Ammann and architect Aymar Embury II , and has been called "not
28728-538: The concrete, a forest's worth of trees on the Pacific Coast was cut down. Robert Caro , the author of a biography on Long Island State Parks commissioner and Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority chairman Robert Moses , wrote about the project: Triborough was not a bridge so much as a traffic machine, the largest ever built. The amount of human energy expended in its construction gives some idea of its immensity: more than five thousand men would be working at
28944-459: The construction of both the Triborough Bridge and Queens-Midtown Tunnel. Queens borough president Harvey also went to the RFC to ask for funding for the bridge. Soon after, the RFC moved to prepare the loan for the Triborough Bridge project. However, when Mayor Walker resigned suddenly in September 1932, his successor Joseph V. McKee refused to seek RFC or other federal aid for the two projects, stating, "If we go to Washington for funds to complete
29160-560: The construction of the Triborough Bridge as well as for the Queens-Midtown Tunnel. Robert Moses was also pushing the state legislature to create an authority to fund, build, and operate the Triborough Bridge. A bill to create the Triborough Bridge Authority (TBA) passed quickly through both houses of the state legislature, and was signed by Governor Herbert H. Lehman that April. The bill included
29376-409: The contract, the PWA approved of it anyway, because the German steel contract was cheaper than any of the bids presented by American producers. Moses also approved of the decision because it would save money, and the TBA said that federal regulations had forced the agency to turn to a German manufacturer. La Guardia blocked the deal, writing that "the only commodity we can get from Hitlerland [Germany]
29592-405: The court ruled in favor of the TBA. By January 1934, the TBA was in turmoil: one of the TBA's commissioners had resigned, and New York City Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia was trying another TBA commissioner, John Stratton O'Leary, for corruption. The TBA's general counsel also resigned. As a result, Public Works Administration (PWA) administrator Harold L. Ickes refused to distribute more of
29808-437: The deck to be level or to arc upward for additional clearance. Like other suspension bridge types, this type often is constructed without the use of falsework . The suspension cables must be anchored at each end of the bridge, since any load applied to the bridge is transformed into tension in these main cables. The main cables continue beyond the pillars to deck-level supports, and further continue to connections with anchors in
30024-451: The deck were then hung from the suspender cables. The first piece of the deck was lifted onto the bridge in October 1963. By early 1964, the span was nearly finished, and all that remained was to secure the various parts of the bridge. By this point, plans for new development on Staten Island were well underway, and tourists had come to observe the construction of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. The bridge had been scheduled to open in 1965, but as
30240-546: The dispute between Moses and Ickes, the TBA announced its intent to open bids for bridge steelwork. By March, the suspension towers for the East River span to Queens were nearing completion, and support piers on Randalls and Wards Islands had progressed substantially. After the Moses–Ickes dispute had subsided, the TBA started advertising for bids to build the steel roadways of the Randalls and Wards Islands viaducts, as well as
30456-444: The dredging of 81,000 cubic yards (62,000 m) of sand and assorted muck. This caisson required 47,000 cu yd (36,000 m) of concrete, and in March 1961, it became the first of the two caissons to be sunk. The Brooklyn side's caisson required even more work, since it was 170 ft (52 m) deep, displaced 145,000 cu yd (111,000 m) of muck, and used 83,000 cu yd (63,000 m) of concrete. Once
30672-502: The expressway's route. The newly elected borough president of Queens, George U. Harvey , also endorsed the bridge, as did Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce leader George Vincent McLaughlin . Trade groups petitioned Mayor Walker to take up the bridge's construction. By the end of the month, Walker acquiesced, and he had included both the Tri-Borough Bridge and a tunnel under the Narrows in his 10-year traffic program. The preliminary borings were completed by late February 1929. The results of
30888-584: The failure of a few flawed strands in the hundreds used pose very little threat of failure, whereas a single bad link or eyebar can cause failure of an entire bridge. (The failure of a single eyebar was found to be the cause of the collapse of the Silver Bridge over the Ohio River .) Another reason is that as spans increased, engineers were unable to lift larger chains into position, whereas wire strand cables can be formulated one by one in mid-air from
31104-400: The future Seventh Avenue approach, was placed atop rolling logs and shifted 370 ft (110 m). The right-of-way for the Seventh Avenue approach was also being cleared, and despite initial opposition to the clearing work, all of the residents within the approach's path eventually acquiesced to moving elsewhere. To prevent contractors from delaying work on the expressways on either side of
31320-402: The government, from Brooklyn Borough President Abe Stark to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson , wrote speeches paying tribute to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. The opening ceremony was attended by over 5,000 people, including 1,500 official guests. Several dignitaries, involving the mayor, the governor, and the borough presidents of Brooklyn and Staten Island, cut the gold ribbon. They then joined
31536-434: The ground. The roadway is supported by vertical suspender cables or rods, called hangers. In some circumstances, the towers may sit on a bluff or canyon edge where the road may proceed directly to the main span. Otherwise, the bridge will typically have two smaller spans, running between either pair of pillars and the highway, which may be supported by suspender cables or their own trusswork . In cases where trusswork supports
31752-478: The idea of adding subway tracks onto the new bridge, saying that it would be too costly. In April of that year, New Jersey governor Robert B. Meyner signed a bill that allowed the Port Authority to build the Narrows Bridge and lease it to the TBTA, who would operate the bridge. The TBTA would buy the bridge from the Port Authority in 1967 as part of the agreement. On the Brooklyn side, the Narrows Bridge
31968-433: The initial proposal, the society undertook a public relations campaign to re-establish Giovanni da Verrazzano's largely forgotten reputation and to promote the idea of naming the bridge for him. The society's director, John N. LaCorte, successfully lobbied several governors of states along the U.S.'s East Coast to proclaim April 17, the anniversary of Verrazzano's arrival in the harbor, as Verrazzano Day. LaCorte then approached
32184-432: The intersection of 25th Avenue and 31st Street; the former was later renamed Hoyt Avenue. The suspension span was designed by chief engineer Othmar Ammann . The span was originally designed to be double-decked, with eight lanes on each deck. When the construction of the Triborough Bridge was paused in 1932 due to lack of funding, the suspension span was downsized to a single deck. There are Warren trusses on each side of
32400-534: The length of the Hell Gate suspension bridge's main span from 1,100 to 1,380 feet (340 to 420 m). The scale of the Triborough Bridge project, including its approaches, was such that hundreds of large apartment buildings were demolished to make way for it. The structure used concrete from factories "from Maine to the Mississippi", and steel from 50 mills in Pennsylvania. To make the formwork for pouring
32616-483: The lift bridge viaduct. The interchange plaza originally contained two tollbooths: one for traffic traveling to and from Manhattan, and one for traffic traveling on I-278 between the Bronx and Queens. The tollbooths were arranged so vehicles only paid one toll upon entering Randalls and Wards Islands, and there was no charge to exit the island. The elevated toll plazas had a surface area of about 9 acres (3.6 ha) and were supported by 1,700 columns, all hidden behind
32832-534: The live loads. In an underspanned suspension bridge, also called under-deck cable-stayed bridge, the main cables hang entirely below the bridge deck, but are still anchored into the ground in a similar way to the conventional type. Very few bridges of this nature have been built, as the deck is inherently less stable than when suspended below the cables. Examples include the Pont des Bergues of 1834 designed by Guillaume Henri Dufour ; James Smith's Micklewood Bridge; and
33048-402: The lower level. The anchorage on the Staten Island side contains a facility for heating cinders that are used to de-ice the bridge deck during winter. Because of thermal expansion of the steel cables, the height of the upper roadway is 12 feet (3.66 m) lower in summer than in winter. The Narrows is the only entry point for large cruise ships and container ships that dock in New York City. As
33264-449: The main span's suspension cables was finished in July 1935. By that time, half of the $ 41 million federal grant had been spent on construction, and the bridge was expected to open the following year. The bridge was expected to relieve traffic on nearby highways, and, with the upcoming 1939 New York World's Fair being held in Queens, would also provide a new route to the fairground at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park . The construction of
33480-423: The next twenty years. A 1920s attempt to build a Staten Island Tunnel was aborted, as was a 1930s plan for vehicular tubes underneath the Narrows. Discussion of a tunnel resurfaced in the mid-1930s and early 1940s, but the plans were again denied. In the late 1940s, urban planner Robert Moses championed a bridge across the Narrows as a way to connect Staten Island with the rest of the city. Various problems delayed
33696-438: The north. Staten Islanders viewed the project cautiously, since the Narrows Bridge would provide a connection to the rest of the city, but could also cause traffic congestion through the borough. Moses had only a positive view of the bridge's proposed effects on Staten Islanders, saying that it was vital for the borough's future. In May 1954, the Army's permit for starting construction on the Narrows Bridge lapsed. The Army granted
33912-475: The northbound roadway carrying eastbound traffic. Two circular ramps carry traffic to and from eastbound I-278 and the RFK lift bridge to Manhattan. Randalls and Wards Islands are accessed via exits and entrances to and from westbound I-278; to and from the westbound lift bridge viaduct; to eastbound I-278; and from the eastbound lift bridge viaduct. Eastbound traffic on I-278 accesses the island by first exiting onto
34128-584: The northeastern Bronx. Civic groups advocated for an approach highway from the West Bronx, and Bronx borough president James J. Lyons tried to block the Board of Estimate from approving the Manhattan approach highway until a West Bronx approach was also provided for. Despite this, in October 1934, the Board of Estimate approved the East River Drive approach while rejecting the West Bronx approach. While reformers embraced Moses's plans to expand
34344-492: The one-"z" name was bolstered by the fact that it appeared on the bridge's first construction contracts in 1959; this incorrect spelling persisted in all subsequent references to the bridge. Although the "Verrazano" name was not finalized yet, The New York Times noted that the Staten Island Ferry boat carrying dignitaries to the bridge's August 1959 groundbreaking ceremony was named the "Verrazzano". The Times further stated that Harriman and mayor Wagner had respectively proposed
34560-453: The opening of the new bridge. By the time of the bridge's first anniversary, 17 million motorists had crossed the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, paying $ 9 million in tolls. The bridge had seen 34% more trips than planners had projected. Conversely, 5.5 million fewer passengers and 700,000 fewer vehicles rode the Staten Island Ferry to Manhattan. The Verrazano Bridge was the last project designed by Ammann, who had designed many of
34776-485: The other major crossings into and within New York City. He died in 1965, the year after the bridge opened. The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was also the last great public works project in New York City overseen by Moses. The urban planner envisioned that the Verrazano and Throgs Neck Bridges would be the final major bridges in New York City for the time being, since they would complete the city's expressway system. Although
34992-530: The parkway system, state and city officials were overwhelmed by their scale, and slow to move to provide financing for the vast system. Partial funding came from interest-bearing bonds issued by the Triborough Bridge Authority, to be secured by future toll revenue. Financing disputes with the PWA involved complex political infighting. The disputes peaked in January 1935, when Ickes passed a rule that effectively prohibited PWA funding for
35208-512: The path of the bridge's approaches protested the eviction notices given to them. The Harlem Market on First Avenue, which stood in the way of the Manhattan approach, was to be relocated to the Bronx Terminal Market . The construction of the Triborough Bridge across Little Hell Gate also required the demolition of hospital buildings on Randalls and Wards Islands. The New York City Department of Hospitals applied for funds to build
35424-489: The preliminary borings showed that the bedrock in the ground underneath the proposed bridge was sufficient to support the spans' foundations. In early March, the Board of Estimate voted to start construction on the bridge and on the Narrows tunnel once funding was obtained. The same month, the board allocated $ 3 million toward the bridge's construction. Separately, the Board of Estimate voted to create an authority to impose toll charges on both crossings. In April 1929,
35640-469: The project was 15% completed, and the city was accepting designs for the Queens span's suspension towers. The granite foundations in the water near each bank of the East River, which would support the suspension towers, were completed in early or mid-1932. At the time, there were no funds to build six additional piers on Randalls Island and one in Little Hell Gate, nor were there funds to build
35856-505: The project was still included in the $ 213 million worth of budget cuts. Following this, Goldman submitted a proposal to fund the planning stages for the remaining portions of construction, so that work could resume immediately once sufficient funding was available. In August 1932, Senator Robert F. Wagner announced that he would ask for a $ 26 million loan from the federal government, namely President Herbert Hoover's Reconstruction Finance Corporation , so there could be funds for
36072-438: The proposed Queens–Midtown Tunnel . The Tri-Borough Bridge was being planned in conjunction with the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway , which would create a continuous highway between the Bronx and Brooklyn with a southward extension over The Narrows to Staten Island . In January 1929, New York City aldermanic president Joseph V. McKee endorsed the bridge, saying there was enough funding to begin one of four proposed bridges on
36288-416: The proposed Harlem River span, with a height of 50 feet (15 m) above mean high water, was too short for most ships, and suggested building a 135-foot-high (41 m) suspension span over the Harlem River instead. Because of complaints about maritime navigational clearance, the Department of War approved an increase in the Harlem River fixed bridge's height to 55 feet (17 m), as well as an increase in
36504-420: The proposed span. U.S. Representative Donald Lawrence O'Toole , whose constituency included Bay Ridge, opposed the proposal for the bridge because he believed it would damage the character of Bay Ridge, and because the bridge might block the Narrows in case of a war. He cited a poll showing that for every Bay Ridge resident who supported the bridge's construction, 33 more were opposed. The U.S. military approved
36720-536: The rectangular pieces that would make up the roadway deck. The components for the sixty 40-ton slabs were first created in an assembly line in Jersey City. Then, these components were combined in a Bayonne steelworks 5 mi (8 km) from the bridge site, and after the pieces of each slab were assembled, they were floated to the Narrows via barge. Each piece measured 28 ft (8.5 m) high by approximately 115 ft (35 m) wide and long. These pieces of
36936-472: The release of a commemorative postage stamp, which depicted a ship sailing underneath the new span. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) created a bus route across the bridge to connect Victory Boulevard in Staten Island with the Bay Ridge–95th Street subway station in Brooklyn. This bus service initially saw low patronage, with only 6,000 daily passengers using the route. Five days after
37152-540: The roadbed, particularly owing to the unfavorable effects of using plate girders, discovered from the Tacoma Narrows Bridge (1940) bridge collapse. In the 1960s, developments in bridge aerodynamics allowed the re-introduction of plate structures as shallow box girders , first seen on the Severn bridge , built 1961–1966. In the picture of the Yichang Bridge , note the very sharp entry edge and sloping undergirders in
37368-464: The roadway to move sideways by up to 13.25 inches (337 mm) in either direction. At mean high water, the towers are 315 feet (96 m) tall, and there is 143 feet (44 m) of clearance under the middle of the main span. The suspension towers were originally designed by Arthur I. Perry. Each tower was supposed to have two ornate arches at the top, similar to the Brooklyn Bridge , and
37584-481: The side of the Verrazzano Bridge. The flag, which measured 193 by 366 ft (59 by 112 m), was described in The New York Times as being the size of "a football field and a half" and billed as the world's largest flag. At the time, it was the largest U.S. flag ever made. The flag was supposed to withstand wind speeds of 30 miles per hour (48 km/h), but it ripped apart three days later, when there
37800-525: The site of the Manhattan span was marked only by its foundations. The deck of the Queens suspension span was completed the following month. The work was dangerous, as some workers fell off the scaffolding that had been erected to allow them to build the suspension span, while others died due to lead poisoning . In November 1935, a controversy emerged over the fact that the Triborough Bridge would use steel imported from Nazi Germany , rather than American producers. Although American steel producers objected to
38016-492: The site, and these men would only be putting into place the materials furnished by the labor of many times five thousand men; before the Triborough Bridge was completed, its construction would have generated more than 31,000,000 man-hours of work in 134 cities in twenty states. The Board of Estimate approved the first contracts for the Triborough Bridge in early October 1929, specifically for the construction bridge piers on Randalls and Wards Islands and in Queens. This allowed for
38232-479: The society in promoting the name. In April 1958, governor W. Averell Harriman announced that he would propose naming the Narrows Bridge after Verrazzano in honor of the explorer's voyage to New York Harbor in 1524. His successor, Nelson Rockefeller, put his support behind the one-"z" "Verrazano" name in April 1959, saying that it was the Americans' standard way of spelling the explorer's name. According to Gay Talese,
38448-488: The south. Excluding elevated ramps, the segments are a total of 17,710 feet (5,400 m) long, with a 13,560-foot-long (4,130 m) span between the Bronx and Queens, and a 4,150-foot-long (1,260 m) span between Manhattan and the interchange plaza. In total, the bridge contains 17.5 miles (28.2 km) of roadway, including elevated ramps. The bridge was primarily designed by chief engineer Othmar H. Ammann and architect Aymar Embury II . Wharton Green served as
38664-407: The span could be replaced with a lift bridge if needed. The same month, the city approved the first segment of the East River Drive, leading from the intersection of York Avenue and 92nd Street to the Triborough Bridge approach at 125th Street. The bridge approach on the Bronx side was also finalized, running along Southern and Eastern boulevards, with a future extension to Pelham Bay Park in
38880-405: The span in order to avoid a $ 43.7 million budget shortage by the end of that year. With no new contracts being awarded, the chief engineer of the Department of Plant and Structures, Edward A. Byrne , warned in March 1932 that construction on the Triborough Bridge would have to be halted. Though Queens borough president Harvey objected to the impending postponement of the bridge's construction,
39096-449: The span, which stiffen the deck. The center span between the two suspension towers is 1,380 feet (421 m) long, and the side spans between the suspension towers and the anchorages are each 700 feet (213 m) long. The total length of the bridge is 2,780 feet (847 m), and the deck is 98 feet (30 m) wide. The columns under the Wards Island approach roadway were originally placed atop 400,000 steel ball bearings , allowing
39312-496: The spans, there will be very little arc in the outboard main cables. The earliest suspension bridges were ropes slung across a chasm, with a deck possibly at the same level or hung below the ropes such that the rope had a catenary shape. The Tibetan siddha and bridge-builder Thangtong Gyalpo originated the use of iron chains in his version of simple suspension bridges . In 1433, Gyalpo built eight bridges in eastern Bhutan . The last surviving chain-linked bridge of Gyalpo's
39528-538: The start of construction on the Triborough Bridge's suspension span to Queens. A groundbreaking ceremony was held in Astoria Park , Queens, on October 25, 1929, just a day after Black Thursday , which started the Great Depression . Mayor Walker turned over the first spadeful of dirt for the bridge in front of 10,000 visitors. After the groundbreaking ceremony, further construction was delayed because
39744-432: The start of construction until 1959. Designed by Othmar Ammann , Leopold Just , and other engineers at Ammann & Whitney , the bridge opened on November 21, 1964. The lower deck opened in 1969 to accommodate increasing traffic loads. The bridge was refurbished in the 1990s and again in the 2010s and 2020s. The bridge has a central span of 4,260 feet (1.30 km; 0.81 mi). It was the longest suspension bridge in
39960-550: The subway tunnel going from St. George, Staten Island , to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, before continuing to Governors Island and then Lower Manhattan. Simultaneously, engineers proposed a set of vehicular tunnels from Fort Wadsworth , Staten Island, to 97th Street, Brooklyn. The tubes were being planned in conjunction with the Triborough Tunnel (the modern-day Queens Midtown Tunnel), which would connect Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. The city appropriated $ 5 million for
40176-401: The suspension bridge shown. This enables this type of construction to be used without the danger of vortex shedding and consequent aeroelastic effects, such as those that destroyed the original Tacoma Narrows bridge. Three kinds of forces operate on any bridge: the dead load, the live load, and the dynamic load. Dead load refers to the weight of the bridge itself. Like any other structure,
40392-533: The suspension towers themselves. The Great Depression severely impacted the city's ability to finance the Triborough Bridge's construction. City comptroller Charles W. Berry had stated in February 1930 that the city was in sound financial condition, even though other large cities were nearing bankruptcy. However, the New York City government was running out of money by that July. The Triborough project's outlook soon began to look bleak. Chief engineer Othmar Ammann
40608-510: The temporary simple suspension bridge at Annonay built by Marc Seguin and his brothers in 1822. It spanned only 18 m. The first permanent wire cable suspension bridge was Guillaume Henri Dufour 's Saint Antoine Bridge in Geneva of 1823, with two 40 m spans. The first with cables assembled in mid-air in the modern method was Joseph Chaley 's Grand Pont Suspendu in Fribourg , in 1834. In
40824-514: The ten bridges with the longest spans, followed by the length of the span and the year the bridge opened for traffic: (Chronological) Broughton Suspension Bridge (England) was an iron chain bridge built in 1826. One of Europe's first suspension bridges, it collapsed in 1831 due to mechanical resonance induced by troops marching in step. As a result of the incident, the British Army issued an order that troops should "break step" when crossing
41040-468: The time of its completion, the Harlem River lift bridge had the largest deck of any lift bridge in the world, with a surface area of 20,000 square feet (1,900 m ). To lighten the deck, it was made of asphalt paved onto steel girders, rather than of concrete. The movable span is 310 feet (94 m) long and 92 feet (28 m) wide. The side spans between the movable span and the approach viaducts are each 195 feet (59 m) long. The total length of
41256-499: The top of the Verrazzano Bridge in 1983, though they had started breeding there several years prior. During the planning stages, the bridge was originally named simply the "Narrows Bridge". The co-naming of the bridge for Verrazzano (with two "z"s) was controversial. It was first proposed in 1951 by the Italian Historical Society of America when the bridge was in the planning stage. After Robert Moses turned down
41472-489: The towers. In cable-stayed bridges, the towers are the primary load-bearing structures that transmit the bridge loads to the ground. A cantilever approach is often used to support the bridge deck near the towers, but lengths further from them are supported by cables running directly to the towers. By design, all static horizontal forces of the cable-stayed bridge are balanced so that the supporting towers do not tend to tilt or slide and so must only resist horizontal forces from
41688-432: The tunnel, saying that "it is not my time" to construct the tunnel. The cancellation of plans for the Narrows tunnel brought a resurgence of proposals for a bridge across the Narrows. In September 1947, Robert Moses , the chairman of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (TBTA), announced that the city was going to ask the War Department for permission to build a bridge across the Narrows. Moses had previously created
41904-517: The tunnels in July 1929, and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad also pledged funding for the vehicular tunnels. Planning for the vehicular tubes started that month. The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce simultaneously considered all three projects—the bridge, the vehicular tunnels, and the subway tunnel. Community groups on both sides of the Narrows disagreed on which projects should be built first, if at all. Residents of Bay Ridge opposed any plans involving
42120-453: The use of iron chains it is thought that Gyalpo used ropes from twisted willows or yak skins. He may have also used tightly bound cloth. The Inca used rope bridges , documented as early as 1615. It is not known when they were first made. Queshuachaca is considered the last remaining Inca rope bridge and is rebuilt annually. The first iron chain suspension bridge in the Western world
42336-423: The weight of the cables is small compared to the weight of the deck. One can see the shape from the constant increase of the gradient of the cable with linear (deck) distance, this increase in gradient at each connection with the deck providing a net upward support force. Combined with the relatively simple constraints placed upon the actual deck, that makes the suspension bridge much simpler to design and analyze than
42552-556: The world until it was surpassed by the Humber Bridge in the UK in 1981. The bridge has the 18th-longest main span in the world, as well as the longest in the Americas. When the bridge was officially named in 1960, it was misspelled "Verrazano-Narrows Bridge" due to an error in the construction contract; the name was officially corrected in 2018. The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge collects tolls in both directions, although only westbound drivers paid
42768-437: Was a result of a bill introduced by Guy V. Molinari , the U.S. representative for Staten Island, as part of an initiative to reduce traffic that accumulated at the toll booth on Staten Island. The one-way toll was initially intended to be part of a six-month pilot program, but resulted in permanent changes to traffic flows on the Verrazzano Bridge. The crossing saw more Brooklyn-bound traffic and less Staten Island-bound traffic as
42984-406: Was a wind speed of 16 mph (26 km/h). The flag had been stuck against the bridge's suspender cables, so any slight wind would have caused the cables to make tears in the flag. A second flag was created in 1980 for the July 4 celebration that year. This flag was even larger at 411 by 210 ft (125 by 64 m) (an area of 71,000 sq ft (6,600 m)). The new flag was placed along
43200-399: Was also considered. A contract to build the suspension anchorage on Wards Island was awarded in January 1931. At the time, progress on the bridge approaches was proceeding rapidly, and it was expected that the entire Triborough Bridge complex would be completed in 1934. By August 1931, it was reported that the Wards Island anchorage was 33% completed, and that the corresponding anchorage on
43416-433: Was also included in a "transit plan" published by Mayor John Francis Hylan , who called for the construction of the Tri-Borough Bridge as part of the city-operated Independent Subway System (see § Public transportation ). In March 1923, a vote was held on whether to allocate money to perform surveys and test borings, as well as create structural plans for the Tri-Borough Bridge. The borough presidents of Manhattan and
43632-447: Was building the Triborough Bridge, Midtown Tunnel, and Golden Gate Bridge at the time, showed interest in designing the proposed Narrows bridge, which would be the world's longest bridge if it were built. The city approved the construction of a rapid transit tunnel under the Narrows in December 1933. This tunnel was approved in conjunction with the proposed Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel connecting Red Hook with Lower Manhattan. In April 1934,
43848-483: Was built by Bethlehem Steel , and the Brooklyn tower was built by the Harris Structural Company. The first piece of the towers, a 300-foot piece of the tower on the Staten Island side, was lifted into place in October 1961, and this tower was topped out by September 1962. The Brooklyn tower started construction in April 1962. When the towers were fully erected, workers began the process of spinning
44064-421: Was designed by consulting engineers Ash-Howard-Needles and Tammen. The Bronx Kill span contains three main truss crossings, which are fixed spans because the Bronx Kill is not used by regular boat traffic. The main truss span across the Bronx Kill is 383 feet (117 m) long, while the approaches are a combined 1,217 feet (371 m). The total length of the bridge is 1,600 feet (488 m). The truss span
44280-515: Was enlisted to help guide the project, but the combination of Tammany Hall graft, the stock market crash , and the Great Depression which followed it, brought the project to a virtual halt. Investors shied away from purchasing the municipal bonds needed to fund it. By early 1932, the Triborough Bridge project was in danger of cancellation. As part of $ 213 million in cuts to the city's budget, Berry wanted to halt construction on
44496-417: Was needed. Othmar Ammann was named as the senior partner for the project. Other notable figures involved chief engineer Milton Brumer; project engineers Herb Rothman and Frank L. Stahl; design engineer Leopold Just ; Safety Engineer Alonzo Dickinson, and engineer of construction John West Kinney. Meanwhile, John "Hard Nose" Murphy supervised the span's and cables' construction. Before starting actual work on
44712-416: Was next to the Manhattan span's plaza, to which it was connected. In 1969, the Manhattan span's toll plaza was relocated west and the I-278 toll plaza was relocated south, and both toll plazas were expanded more than threefold. This required the destruction of the building's original towers. A room was built in 1966 to store Moses's models and blueprints of planned roads and crossings, but they were relocated to
44928-445: Was not immediately submitted to the New York City Board of Estimate as a result of a reorganization of the city's proposed budget. Goldman finally published the report in March 1927, stating that the bridge was estimated to cost $ 24.6 million. He explained that the Hell Gate Bridge only had enough space for five lanes of roadway, so a new bridge would have to be constructed parallel to it. Though two mayoral committees endorsed
45144-564: Was originally supposed to connect to the Circumferential (Belt) Parkway , but in early 1957, Harriman vetoed a bill that stipulated that the main approach connect to the Belt Parkway. By May 1957, an updated location for the Brooklyn anchorage had been agreed on. The anchorage was now to be located at Fort Lafayette , an island coastal fortification built next to Fort Hamilton at the southern tip of Bay Ridge. Moses also proposed expanding Brooklyn's Gowanus Expressway and extending it to
45360-484: Was put on hold indefinitely due to a lack of money. The construction work did not go beyond an examination of shoreline on the Brooklyn side. In February 1933, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill authorizing the construction of a suspension bridge across the Narrows. With this approval, the Interboro Bridge Company hoped to start constructing the bridge by the end of the year, thereby creating jobs for 80,000 workers. Structural engineer Othmar H. Ammann , who
45576-482: Was set to vote on the Seventh Avenue approach in mid-December, but the federal government stated that it would only agree to the bridge's construction if the Seventh Avenue approach had 12 lanes, with six on each level. The federal government was already paying for two highway improvements on both sides of the proposed bridge: the Clove Lakes Expressway ( Staten Island Expressway ) on Staten Island, and
45792-543: Was the Jacob's Creek Bridge (1801) in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania , designed by inventor James Finley . Finley's bridge was the first to incorporate all of the necessary components of a modern suspension bridge, including a suspended deck which hung by trusses. Finley patented his design in 1808, and published it in the Philadelphia journal, The Port Folio , in 1810. Early British chain bridges included
46008-543: Was the Thangtong Gyalpo Bridge in Duksum en route to Trashi Yangtse , which was finally washed away in 2004. Gyalpo's iron chain bridges did not include a suspended-deck bridge , which is the standard on all modern suspension bridges today. Instead, both the railing and the walking layer of Gyalpo's bridges used wires. The stress points that carried the screed were reinforced by the iron chains. Before
46224-404: Was the first modern suspension bridge outside the United States built with parallel wire cables. Two towers/pillars, two suspension cables, four suspension cable anchors, multiple suspender cables, the bridge deck. The main cables of a suspension bridge will form a catenary when hanging under their own weight only. When supporting the deck, the cables will instead form a parabola , assuming
46440-467: Was to have been supported by four legs: two on the outside and two in the center. A 1932 article described that each tower would be made of 5,000 tons of material, including 3,680 tons of steel. The final design of the suspension towers, by Ammann, consists of comparatively simple cross bracing supported by two legs. The tops of each tower contain cast iron saddles in the Art Deco style, over which
46656-468: Was willing to replace the TBA chairman if it resulted in funding for the bridge. In mid-March, Ickes suddenly backed down on his ultimatum; not only was Moses allowed to keep both of his positions, but the PWA also resumed its payments to the TBA. La Guardia re-appointed Moses to the TBA the same year. Meanwhile, in February 1935, the TBA awarded a contract to construct the piers for the Harlem River lift structure. Despite an impending lack of funds due to
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