The Brooklyn Bridge is the southernmost of four toll-free vehicular bridges connecting Manhattan Island and Long Island, with the Manhattan, Williamsburg, and Queensboro bridges to the north. Only passenger vehicles and pedestrian and bicycle traffic are permitted. A major tourist attraction since its opening, the Brooklyn Bridge has become an icon of New York City. Over the years, the bridge has been used as the location of various stunts and performances, as well as several crimes and attacks. The Brooklyn Bridge has been designated a National Historic Landmark, a New York City landmark, and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.
Introduction
Brooklyn Bridge
Brooklyn Bridge | Introduction
Only passenger vehicles and pedestrian and bicycle traffic are permitted. Horse-drawn carriages Horse-drawn carriages Horse-drawn carriages and other kind of automobiles
how much is robert f kennedy bridge toll
user
drivers pay $9.50 per car or $4.00 per motorcycle for tolls by mail. Customer Service Center pay $6.12 per car or $2.66 per motorcycle.
assistant
which locations are connected by this bridge?
user
The bridges link the boroughs of Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx.
assistant
does it traverse a river?
user
Yes -  East River, Harlem River, Bronx Kill
assistant
where does the first river originate?
user
Long Island Sound
assistant
are there any other bridges on that river?
user
Yes -  Brooklyn Bridge, Williamsburg Bridge, the Queensboro Bridge
assistant
what type of bridge is the first one?
user
cable-stayed/suspension bridge
assistant
what types of vehicles use it?
user
The Brooklyn Bridge, the world's first major steel-wire suspension bridge, uses a hybrid cable-stayed/suspension bridge design, with both horizontal and diagonal suspender cables. Its stone towers are neo-Gothic, with characteristic pointed arches. The New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT), which maintains the bridge, says that its original paint scheme was "Brooklyn Bridge Tan" and "Silver", although a writer for "The New York Post" states that it was originally entirely "Rawlins Red".
Brooklyn Bridge | Description
The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing across the East River. It was also the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time of its opening, with a main span of and a deck above mean high water. The span was originally called the New York and Brooklyn Bridge or the East River Bridge but was officially renamed the Brooklyn Bridge in 1915. Proposals for a bridge connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn were first made in the early 19th century, which eventually led to the construction of the current span, designed by John A.
Brooklyn Bridge | Introduction
Horse-drawn carriages have been allowed to use the Brooklyn Bridge's roadways since its opening. Originally, each of the two roadways carried two lanes of a different direction of traffic. The lanes were relatively narrow at only wide. In 1922, motor vehicles were banned from the bridge, while horse-drawn carriages were restricted from the Manhattan Bridge. Thereafter, the only vehicles allowed on the Brooklyn Bridge were horse-drawn. Since 1950, the main roadway has carried six lanes of automobile traffic. Because of the roadway's height ( posted) and weight ( posted) restrictions, commercial vehicles and buses are prohibited from using the Brooklyn Bridge.
Brooklyn Bridge | Vehicular traffic
The New York and Brooklyn Bridge Railway, a cable car service, began operating on September 25, 1883; it ran on the inner lanes of the bridge, between terminals at the Manhattan and Brooklyn ends. Since Washington Roebling believed that steam locomotives would put excessive loads upon the structure of the Brooklyn Bridge, the cable car line was designed as a steam/cable-hauled hybrid. They were powered from a generating station under the Brooklyn approach. The cable cars could not only regulate their speed on the % upward and downward approaches, but also maintain a constant interval between each other. There were 24 cable cars in total.
Brooklyn Bridge | Cable cars and elevated railroads
The trusses allow the Brooklyn Bridge to hold a total load of , a design consideration from when it originally carried heavier elevated trains. These trusses are held up by suspender ropes, which hang downward from each of the four main cables. Crossbeams run between the trusses at the top, and diagonal and vertical stiffening beams run on the outside and inside of each roadway.
Brooklyn Bridge | Suspension span
Formerly, rail traffic operated on the Brooklyn Bridge as well. Cable cars and elevated railroads used the bridge until 1944, while trolleys ran until 1950.
Brooklyn Bridge | Rail traffic
The Brooklyn Bridge is an icon of the city itself. The towers of the Brooklyn Bridge are built of limestone, granite, and Rosendale cement, and their architectural style is neo-Gothic, with characteristic pointed arches above the passageways through the stone towers. This bridge was also the longest suspension bridge in the world from its opening until 1903, and is the first steel-wire suspension bridge. The Queensboro Bridge is an important piece of cantilever architecture. The Manhattan Bridge, opened in 1909, is considered to be the forerunner of modern suspension bridges, and its design served as the model for many of the long-span suspension bridges around the world; the Manhattan Bridge, Throgs Neck Bridge, Triborough Bridge, and Verrazano-Narrows Bridge are all examples of Structural Expressionism.
New York City | River crossings
The first temporary wire was stretched between the towers on August 15, 1876, using chrome steel provided by the Chrome Steel Company of Brooklyn. The wire was then stretched back across the river, and the two ends were spliced to form a traveler, a lengthy loop of wire connecting the towers, which was driven by a steam hoisting engine at ground level. The wire was one of two that were used to create a temporary footbridge for workers while cable spinning was ongoing. The next step was to send an engineer across the completed traveler wire in a boatswain's chair slung from the wire, to ensure it was safe enough.
Brooklyn Bridge | Cables
An innovative design, it was the first suspension bridge to employ Josef Melan's deflection theory for deck stiffening, resulting in the first use of a lightly-webbed weight-saving Warren truss for its construction. Considered the forerunner of modern suspension bridges, it served as the model for many of the record-breaking spans built in the first half of the twentieth century.
Manhattan Bridge | Introduction
Emily Warren Roebling was the first to cross the bridge. The bridge's main span over the East River is 1,595 feet 6 inches (. The bridge cost to build (in 1883 dollars) and an estimated number of 27 people died during its construction.
History of transportation in New York City | Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge is the southernmost of four toll-free vehicular bridges connecting Manhattan Island and Long Island, with the Manhattan, Williamsburg, and Queensboro bridges to the north. Only passenger vehicles and pedestrian and bicycle traffic are permitted. A major tourist attraction since its opening, the Brooklyn Bridge has become an icon of New York City. Over the years, the bridge has been used as the location of various stunts and performances, as well as several crimes and attacks. The Brooklyn Bridge has been designated a National Historic Landmark, a New York City landmark, and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.
Brooklyn Bridge | Introduction
The weight restrictions prohibit heavy passenger vehicles such as pickup trucks and SUVs to use the bridge, though this is not often enforced in practice. On the Brooklyn side, vehicles can enter the bridge from Tillary/Adams Streets to the south, Sands/Pearl Streets to the west, and exit 28B of the eastbound Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. In Manhattan, cars can enter from both the northbound and southbound FDR Drive, as well as Park Row to the west, Chambers/Centre Streets to the north, and Pearl Street to the south. However, the exit from the bridge to northbound Park Row was closed after the September 11 attacks because of increased security concerns: that section of Park Row ran under One Police Plaza, the NYPD headquarters.
Brooklyn Bridge | Vehicular traffic
The BRT started running through-services of elevated trains, which ran from Park Row Terminal in Manhattan to points in Brooklyn via the Sands Street station on the Brooklyn side. Before reaching Sands Street (at Tillary Street for Fulton Street Line trains, and at Bridge Street for Fifth Avenue Line and Myrtle Avenue Line trains), elevated trains bound for Manhattan were uncoupled from their steam locomotives. The elevated trains were then coupled to the cable cars, which would pull the passenger carriages across the bridge.
Brooklyn Bridge | Cable cars and elevated railroads
Cable-stayed bridges were being designed and constructed by the late 16th century, and the form found wide use in the late 19th century. Early examples, including the Brooklyn Bridge, often combined features from both the cable-stayed and suspension designs. Cable-stayed designs fell from favor in the early 20th century as larger gaps were bridged using pure suspension designs, and shorter ones using various systems built of reinforced concrete. It returned to prominence in the later 20th century when the combination of new materials, larger construction machinery, and the need to replace older bridges all lowered the relative price of these designs.
Cable-stayed bridge | Introduction
It was coincidental that the open truss structure supporting the deck is, by its nature, subject to fewer aerodynamic problems. This is because John Roebling designed the Brooklyn Bridge's truss system to be six to eight times as strong as he thought it needed to be. However, due to a supplier's fraudulent substitution of inferior-quality cable in the initial construction, the bridge was reappraised at the time as being only four times as strong as necessary. The main span and side spans are supported by a structure containing six trusses running parallel to the roadway, each of which is deep.
Brooklyn Bridge | Suspension span
Designed by John Roebling, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first link between Manhattan and the land mass of Long Island. It was notable for size, magnificence and commercial importance. The main span of 1,596' 6" was the longest span of any bridge in the world when it was completed in 1883, a period of time that firmly established the concept of municipal consolidation among the outlying cities and suburbs into what eventually became the City of Greater New York. The Brooklyn Bridge was opened for use on May 24, 1883. The opening ceremony was attended by several thousand people and many ships were present in the East Bay for the occasion.
History of transportation in New York City | Brooklyn Bridge
Concerns about the Brooklyn Bridge's safety were raised during the turn of the century. In 1898, traffic backups due to a dead horse caused one of the truss cords to buckle. There were more significant worries after twelve suspender cables snapped in 1901, though a thorough investigation found no other defects. After the 1901 incident, five inspectors were hired to examine the bridge each day, a service that cost $250,000 a year. The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, which operated routes across the Brooklyn Bridge, issued a notice in 1905 saying that the bridge had reached its transit capacity. By 1890, due to the popularity of the Brooklyn Bridge, there were proposals to construct other bridges across the East River between Manhattan and Long Island.
Brooklyn Bridge | Late 19th through early 20th centuries
From 1898 to 1950, various companies operated local trolley lines over the Brooklyn Bridge, taking passengers from many points in Brooklyn and Queens, New York City, United States to the Park Row terminal in Lower Manhattan. These lines entered the bridge roadway from Fulton Street or Sands Street in Downtown Brooklyn, some of them using elevated trackage at the Sands Street elevated railway station.
Brooklyn Bridge trolleys | Introduction
Brooklyn is connected to Manhattan by three bridges, the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg Bridges; a vehicular tunnel, the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel (also known as the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel); and several subway tunnels. The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge links Brooklyn with the more suburban borough of Staten Island. Though much of its border is on land, Brooklyn shares several water crossings with Queens, including the Pulaski Bridge, the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge, the Kosciuszko Bridge (part of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway), and the Grand Street Bridge, all of which carry traffic over Newtown Creek, and the Marine Parkway Bridge connecting Brooklyn to the Rockaway Peninsula.
Brooklyn | Roadways
Brooklyn Bridge is a bridge connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn, New York. Brooklyn Bridge may also refer to:
Brooklyn Bridge (disambiguation) | Introduction
The bridge is founded on rock at up to below water level and the deck is on a falling gradient from above water level at the southern bank to at the northern bank. The bridge is long, and was the first bridge in the world to be built of open steel trough girders.
Brooklyn Bridge, New South Wales | Description
Patronage continued to increase, and in 1888, the tracks were lengthened and even more cars were constructed to allow for four-car cable car trains. Electric wires for the trolleys were added by 1895, allowing for the potential future decommissioning of the steam/cable system. The terminals were rebuilt once more in July 1895, and, following the implementation of new electric cars in late 1896, the steam engines were dismantled and sold. Following the unification of the cities of New York and Brooklyn in 1898, the New York and Brooklyn Bridge Railway ceased to be a separate entity that June and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) assumed control of the line.
Brooklyn Bridge | Cable cars and elevated railroads
In 2009, it was decided to replace the 1939 structure with a new bridge, which was to consist of a five-lane eastbound span, a four-lane westbound span, a bike path, and a walkway. Four designs were considered for the new structure: a cable-stayed bridge, a through arch bridge, a box girder bridge, and a deck arch bridge. The cable-stayed bridge design, selected after a public review process, makes the replacement bridge the first vehicular cable-stayed bridge in New York City since the Brooklyn Bridge (which has a hybrid suspension/cable-stayed design), as well as the first major new bridge in New York City since the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge's completion in 1964.
Kosciuszko Bridge | Construction of eastbound bridge
The higher-than-usual pedestrian load caused this swaying, which was amplified by the tendency of pedestrians to synchronize their footfalls with a sway. Several engineers expressed concern about how this would affect the bridge, although others noted that the bridge did withstand the event and that the redundancies in its design—the inclusion of the three support systems (suspension system, diagonal stay system, and stiffening truss)—make it "probably the best secured bridge against such movements going out of control". In designing the bridge, John Roebling had stated that the bridge would sag but not fall, even if one of these structural systems were to fail altogether.
Brooklyn Bridge | Emergency use
Although a second deck for the Brooklyn Bridge was proposed, it was thought to be infeasible because doing so would overload the bridge's structural capacity. The first new bridge across the East River, the Williamsburg Bridge, opened upstream in 1903 and connected Williamsburg, Brooklyn, with the Lower East Side of Manhattan. This was followed by the Queensboro Bridge between Queens and Manhattan in March 1909, and the Manhattan Bridge between Brooklyn and Manhattan in December 1909. Several subway, railroad, and road tunnels were also constructed, which helped to accelerate the development of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. Though tolls had been instituted for carriages and cable-car customers since the bridge's opening, pedestrians were spared from the tolls originally.
Brooklyn Bridge | Late 19th through early 20th centuries
The Brooklyn Bridge, completed in 1883, was the first bridge to span the East River, connecting the cities of New York and Brooklyn, and all but replacing the frequent ferry service between them, which did not return until the late 20th century. The bridge offered cable car service across the span. The Brooklyn Bridge was followed by the Williamsburg Bridge (1903), the Queensboro Bridge (1909), the Manhattan Bridge (1912) and the Hell Gate Railroad Bridge (1916). Later would come the Triborough Bridge (1936), the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge (1939), the Throgs Neck Bridge (1961) and the Rikers Island Bridge (1966). In addition, numerous rail tunnels pass under the East River – most of them part of the New York City Subway system – as does the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel and the Queens-Midtown Tunnel.
East River | Bridges and tunnels
Vehicular access to the bridge is provided by a complex series of ramps on both sides of the bridge. There are two entrances to the bridge's pedestrian promenade on either side.
Brooklyn Bridge | Exits and entrances
With its Gothic-revival double-arched stone towers and diagonal suspension wires, the Brooklyn Bridge is one of the city's most recognized architectural structures, depicted by artists such as Hart Crane and Georgia O'Keeffe. The Brooklyn Bridge's main span is , and was the longest in the world when it was completed. The Williamsburg Bridge and Manhattan Bridge are the two others in the trio of architecturally notable East River crossings. The Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, which links Manhattan and Queens, is an important piece of cantilever bridge design. The borough of Staten Island is connected to Brooklyn through the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.
Transportation in New York City | Bridges and tunnels
The Carroll Street Bridge is composed of a span supported by a pair of riveted steel plate girders. The span is wide and contains one eastbound lane of vehicular traffic and one walkway to either side. It carries the street of the same name within the neighborhood of Gowanus, Brooklyn. The posted restrictions are a height limit of and a weight limit of . The movable portion of the span is shaped like a trapezoid. Carriage truck frames, supported by wheels, are located underneath the girders. When the bridge is retracting, these frames run along three timber-supported steel rails that run diagonally on the western bank of the canal to the south of the span, which opens up a channel for ships to pass.
Carroll Street Bridge | Description
The bridge's master mechanic, E.F. Farrington, was selected for this task, and an estimated crowd of 10,000 people on both shores watched him cross. A second traveler wire was then stretched across the span, a task that was completed by August 30. The temporary footbridge, located some above the elevation of the future deck, was completed in February 1877. By December 1876, a steel contract for the permanent cables still had not been awarded. There was disagreement over whether the bridge's cables should use the as-yet-untested Bessemer steel or the well-proven crucible steel. Until a permanent contract was awarded, the builders ordered of wire in the interim, 10 tons each from three companies, including Washington Roebling's own steel mill in Brooklyn.
Brooklyn Bridge | Cables
Patronage across the Brooklyn Bridge increased in the years after it opened; a million people paid to cross in the six first months. The bridge carried 8.5 million people in 1884, its first full year of operation; this number doubled to 17 million in 1885 and again to 34 million in 1889. Many of these people were cable car passengers. Additionally, about 4.5 million pedestrians a year were crossing the bridge for free by 1892. Trolley tracks were added in the center lanes of both roadways in 1898, allowing trolleys to use the bridge as well. That year, the formerly separate City of Brooklyn was unified with New York City, and the Brooklyn Bridge fell under city control.
Brooklyn Bridge | Late 19th through early 20th centuries
As part of the project, the bridge's original suspender cables installed by J. Lloyd Haigh were replaced by Bethlehem Steel in 1986, marking the cables' first replacement since construction. In addition, the staircase at Washington Street in Brooklyn was renovated, the stairs from Tillary and Adams Streets were replaced with a ramp, and the short flights of steps from the promenade to each tower's balcony were removed. In a smaller project, the bridge was floodlit at night starting in 1982 to highlight its architectural features. Additional problems persisted, and in 1993, high levels of lead were discovered near the bridge's towers.
Brooklyn Bridge | Deterioration and late-20th century repair
On March 5, 1950, the streetcars also stopped running, and the bridge was redesigned exclusively for automobile traffic.
Brooklyn Bridge | Trolleys
As a result, in 2016, the NYCDOT announced that it planned to double the promenade's width. A center line was painted to separate cyclists from pedestrians in 1971, creating one of the city's first dedicated bike lanes. Initially, the northern side of the promenade was used by pedestrians and the southern side by cyclists. In 2000, these were swapped, with cyclists taking the northern side and pedestrians taking the southern side. Pedestrian and bicycle access to the bridge from the Brooklyn side is from either the median of Adams Street at its intersection with Tillary Street or a staircase near Prospect Street between Cadman Plaza East and West.
Brooklyn Bridge | Walkway
The main span between the two suspension towers is long and wide. The bridge "elongates and contracts between the extremes of temperature from 14 to 16 inches". Navigational clearance is above mean high water (MHW). A 1909 "Engineering Magazine" article said that, at the center of the span, the height above MHW could fluctuate by more than due to temperature and traffic loads, while more rigid spans had a lower maximum deflection. The side spans, between each suspension tower and each side's suspension anchorages, are long. At the time of construction, engineers had not yet discovered the aerodynamics of bridge construction, and bridge designs were not tested in wind tunnels.
Brooklyn Bridge | Suspension span
The first line across the bridge was the Graham Avenue Line, a minor line approaching downtown from the east on Sands Street. This line was chosen because of its half-hour headway, and its cars began crossing the bridge on January 23, 1898. A new elevated trolley line on the Brooklyn end of the bridge opened on September 28, 1908, taking trolleys bound for Fulton Street through the Sands Street station of the elevated railways and underneath the connection to the Fulton Street Elevated. This eliminated congestion caused by the crossing of the bridge-bound cars from Fulton Street and the Brooklyn-bound cars to eastbound Sands Street.
Brooklyn Bridge trolleys | History
The Court Street Line, Flatbush Avenue Line, Fulton Street Line, Gates Avenue Line, Myrtle Avenue Line, Putnam Avenue Line, and Union Street Line were moved to this route. On January 26, 1908, Brooklyn Bridge Local trolley service between the two ends of the bridge was introduced. The cable cars of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge Railway, on whose tracks the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company was providing through elevated railway service, were discontinued the next day. Local trolley service ended in 1950.
Brooklyn Bridge trolleys | History
However, by the first decade of the 20th century, pedestrians were also paying tolls. Tolls on all four bridges across the East River—the Brooklyn Bridge, as well as the Manhattan, Williamsburg, and Queensboro bridges to the north—were abolished in July 1911 as part of a populist policy initiative headed by New York City mayor William Jay Gaynor. The city government passed a bill to officially name the structure the "Brooklyn Bridge" in January 1915. Ostensibly in an attempt to reduce traffic on nearby city streets, Grover Whalen, the commissioner of Plant and Structures, banned motor vehicles from the Brooklyn Bridge in 1922.
Brooklyn Bridge | Late 19th through early 20th centuries
The Brooklyn Bridge has an elevated promenade open to pedestrians and cyclists in the center of the bridge, located above the automobile lanes. The promenade is usually located below the height of the girders, except at the approach ramps leading to each tower's balcony. The path is generally wide, though this is constrained by obstacles such as protruding cables, benches, and stairways, which create "pinch points" at certain locations. The path narrows to at the locations where the main cables descend to the level of the promenade. Further exacerbating the situation, these "pinch points" are some of the most popular places to take pictures.
Brooklyn Bridge | Walkway
Each side of the bridge contains an anchorage for the main cables. The anchorages are trapezoidal limestone structures located slightly inland of the shore, measuring at the base and at the top. Each anchorage weighs . The Manhattan anchorage rests on a foundation of bedrock while the Brooklyn anchorage rests on clay. The anchorages both have four anchor plates, one for each of the main cables, which are located near ground level and parallel to the ground. The anchor plates measure , with a thickness of and weigh each. Each anchor plate is connected to the respective main cable by two sets of nine eyebars, each of which is about long and up to thick.
Brooklyn Bridge | Anchorages
Somewhat similar to suspension bridges like the Golden Gate Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge, cable-stayed bridges like the Térénez Bridge use steel cables to transfer loads from the bridge deck to the towers. However, cable-stayed bridges actually are very different from suspension bridges in principles and method of construction. In a suspension bridge, the long cables are the primary load-bearing structures that are mainly responsible for the function of the bridge; for a cable-stayed bridge, the pylons form the primary load-bearing structures. For a bridge span of medium length, like that of the Térénez Bridge, a cable-stayed design is optimal from both structural and economic perspectives.
Térénez bridge | Structural Analysis
Armstrong for a bridge at Clifton. Part of the roadway on the land side of the piers of the Hammersmith Bridge was constructed in this manner. In the late 19th century and into the 20th century a few bridges of this type were constructed. The Micklewood Bridge, constructed at Doune in Scotland, was the very first of this type. It had a span of 103 feet, and the main cables were chains, making this an instance of a chain bridge. The deck was stiff and relatively stable, owing to heavy cross-braces. The only remaining underspanned suspension bridge in the United States is the Kellams Bridge crossing the upper Delaware River between New York and Pennsylvania.
Underspanned suspension bridge | Introduction
Afterward, two separate companies constructed the modules that would make up the suspension towers. The Staten Island tower 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 the bridge's cables. The American Bridge Company was selected to construct the cables and deck.
Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge | Progress
Verrazzano Bridge or Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge (formerly spelled Verrazano-Narrows) is a suspension bridge between Brooklyn and Staten Island in New York City. Verrazano Bridge or Verrazzano Bridge may also refer to:
Verrazano Bridge (disambiguation) | Introduction
The Manhattan Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the East River in New York City, connecting Lower Manhattan at Canal Street with Downtown Brooklyn at the Flatbush Avenue Extension. The main span is long, with the suspension cables being long. The bridge's total length is . It is one of four toll-free vehicular bridges connecting Manhattan Island to Long Island; the nearby Brooklyn Bridge is just slightly further downtown, while the Queensboro and Williamsburg bridges are to the north. The bridge was designed by Leon Moisseiff, built by The Phoenix Bridge Company, and opened to traffic on December 31, 1909.
Manhattan Bridge | Introduction
In the United States, the first major wire-cable suspension bridge was the 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).
Suspension bridge | Wire-cable
Since the New York and Brooklyn Bridge was the only bridge across the East River at that time, it was also called the East River Bridge. Another popular nickname was the Brooklyn Bridge, because of the economic benefits the new crossing provided to the City of Brooklyn. Until the construction of the nearby Williamsburg Bridge in 1903, the New York and Brooklyn Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world, one and a half times longer than any built previously.
Brooklyn Bridge | Opening
The Carroll Street Bridge is a retractable bridge in New York City, crossing the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. It carries a single wooden-decked lane for one-way eastbound vehicular traffic and two walkways. Completed in 1889, it is the least-used of the 794 bridges and tunnels operated by the New York City Department of Transportation, with an average of about one thousand crossings each weekday. One of only four remaining retractable bridges in the United States, it is an official city landmark.
Carroll Street Bridge | Introduction
There were thirty-two drums at the anchorage yard, eight for each of the four main cables. Each drum had a capacity of of wire. The first experimental wire for the main cables was stretched between the towers on May 29, 1877, and spinning began two weeks later. All four main cables were being strung by that July. During that time, the temporary footbridge was unofficially opened to members of the public, who could receive a visitor's pass; by August 1877 several thousand visitors from around the world had used the footbridge. The visitor passes ceased that September after a visitor had an epileptic seizure and nearly fell off.
Brooklyn Bridge | Cables
In comparison, the Brooklyn Bridge, with wire-cable suspension, was designed with an excess strength factor of six. Wire cables have extremely high levels of redundancy, with the failure of a single wire strand almost unnoticeable. During the Brooklyn Bridge's construction it was discovered that some rejected steel wire had been used. To compensate for the rejected steel wire already in the cables, 150 more good steel wires per cable were added to bring the total up to 5,434 redundant strands. The designer's son, Washington Roebling, decided the safety factor may have been reduced, but was far more than sufficient.
Silver Bridge | Low redundancy, high strength
Initially, the service ran with single-car trains, but patronage soon grew so much that by October 1883, two-car trains were in use. The line carried three million people in the first six months, nine million in 1884, and nearly 20 million in 1885 following the opening of the Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad. Accordingly, the track layout was rearranged and more trains were ordered. At the same time, there were highly controversial plans to extend the elevated railroads onto the Brooklyn Bridge, under the pretext of extending the bridge itself. After disputes, the trustees agreed to build two elevated routes to the bridge on the Brooklyn side.
Brooklyn Bridge | Cable cars and elevated railroads
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 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.
Suspension bridge | Wire-cable
To provide sufficient clearance for shipping in the East River, the Brooklyn Bridge incorporates long approach viaducts on either end to raise it from low ground on both shores. Including approaches, the Brooklyn Bridge is a total of long when measured between the curbs at Park Row in Manhattan and Sands Street in Brooklyn. A separate measurement of is sometimes given; this is the distance from the curb at Centre Street in Manhattan.
Brooklyn Bridge | Deck
While the bridge has always permitted the passage of pedestrians, the promenade facilitates movement when other means of crossing the East River have become unavailable. During transit strikes by the Transport Workers Union in 1980 and 2005, people commuting to work used the bridge; they were joined by Mayors Ed Koch and Michael Bloomberg, who crossed as a gesture to the affected public. Pedestrians also walked across the bridge as an alternative to suspended subway services following the 1965, 1977, and 2003 blackouts, and after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. During the 2003 blackouts, many crossing the bridge reported a swaying motion.
Brooklyn Bridge | Emergency use
The bridge, including approaches, is long, its main span is , and its deck is wide. Measured from high water, the height at the center of the bridge is above the river and each tower is tall. The structure is unconventional among suspension bridges in having its main span hanging from cables in the usual manner but its side spans being supported entirely by their trusswork. The Brooklyn landing is between Grand Street and Broadway, which both had ferries prior to the bridge's construction. The five ferry routes operated from the landings went out of business by 1908. The bridge once carried New York State Route 27A.
Williamsburg Bridge | Description
Cable-stayed bridges date back to 1595, where designs were found in "Machinae Novae", a book by Croatian-Venetian inventor Fausto Veranzio. Many early suspension bridges were cable-stayed construction, including the 1817 footbridge Dryburgh Abbey Bridge, James Dredge's patented Victoria Bridge, Bath (1836), and the later Albert Bridge (1872) and Brooklyn Bridge (1883). Their designers found that the combination of technologies created a stiffer bridge. John A. Roebling took particular advantage of this to limit deformations due to railway loads in the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge. The earliest known surviving example of a true cable-stayed bridge in the United States is E.E.
Cable-stayed bridge | History
The structural system of the Puente de Occidente is similar to the suspension/cable-stayed hybrid used in the Brooklyn Bridge.
Puente de Occidente | Introduction
Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge began on January 2, 1870. The first work entailed the construction of two caissons, upon which the suspension towers would be built. The Brooklyn side's caisson was built at the Webb & Bell shipyard in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and was launched into the river on March 19, 1870. Compressed air was pumped into the caisson, and workers entered the space to dig the sediment until it sank to the bedrock. Once the caisson had reached the desired depth, it was to be filled in with vertical brick piers and concrete. However, due to the unexpectedly high concentration of large boulders atop the riverbed, the Brooklyn caisson took several months to sink to the desired depth.
Brooklyn Bridge | Caissons
The span is supported by two main cables, which suspend the deck and are held up by the suspension towers. Each cable is long and contains 9,862 wires, amounting to around of cable length. Each of the suspension towers has a height of above mean high water. At each end of the suspension span are two anchorages that hold the main cables, both of which are freestanding concrete structures measuring . The width of the bridge deck between the cables is . Unlike other suspension bridges, the Bronx–Whitestone Bridge originally did not have a stiffening truss system. Instead, I-beam girders gave the bridge an Art Deco streamlined appearance.
Bronx–Whitestone Bridge | Description
A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (the load-bearing portion) 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 a long history in many mountainous parts of the world. This type of bridge 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 the deck to be level or to arc upward for additional clearance. Like other suspension bridge types, this type often is constructed without falsework.
Suspension bridge | Introduction
The Brooklyn Bridge from "White Crane Systems" was a data transfer enabler. Although it came with some hardware, it was the software which was the basis of the product. It also could transform the data's format.
Brooklyn Bridge (software) | Introduction
The first bridge on the site was built in 1803 through an Act of Legislature authorizing the "building of a Toll Bridge over Newtown Creek: this bridge charged one cent per foot passenger, which was why the bridge was called the "Penny Bridge." The original bridge was replaced several times. Also called Meeker Avenue Bridge, the structure in use since 1894 was still informally known by some as the Penny Bridge. The bridge structures connected Meeker Avenue in Brooklyn to Review Avenue and Laurel Hill Boulevard in Queens. Until 1888, the bridge was operated by private companies and thereafter became the property of the people.
Kosciuszko Bridge | Original bridges
The real reason for the ban was an incident the same year where two cables slipped due to high traffic loads. Both Whalen and Roebling called for the renovation of the Brooklyn Bridge and the construction of a parallel bridge, though the parallel bridge was never built.
Brooklyn Bridge | Late 19th through early 20th centuries
The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge ( ) (also referred to as the Verrazzano Bridge, locally as the Verrazzano, and formerly as the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge or Narrows Bridge) 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 Upper New York Bay with Lower New York Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, and is the only fixed crossing of the Narrows. The double-deck bridge carries 13 lanes of Interstate 278, with seven lanes on the upper level and six on the lower level. The span is named for Giovanni da Verrazzano, the first documented European explorer to enter New York Harbor and the Hudson River in 1524.
Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge | Introduction
Initially, all lines reached the bridge by way of the Brooklyn Heights Railroad's Graham Avenue Line tracks in Sands Street. Cars could enter Sands Street to the west at Fulton Street (many Brooklyn Heights lines) or to the east at Washington Street (Coney Island and Brooklyn Railroad's DeKalb Avenue Line) or Adams Street (Nassau Electric Railroad's Adams Street and Boerum Place Line). From Washington Street, tracks ran east on High Street to the CI&B's Smith Street Line, Concord Street on the Nassau Electric's Park Avenue Line and Vanderbilt Avenue Line, and Myrtle Avenue on the Brooklyn Heights's Myrtle Avenue Line.
Brooklyn Bridge trolleys | History
The Williamsburg and Manhattan bridges are the only suspension bridges in New York City that still carry both automobile and rail traffic. The Williamsburg once held four trolley tracks in addition to the two subway tracks currently on the bridge that connect the New York City Subway's BMT Nassau Street Line and BMT Jamaica Line. Two tracks on the south side carried streetcars from the Brooklyn side: Two north-side tracks carried Manhattan streetcars:
Williamsburg Bridge | Rail tracks
In the late 1930s a municipal controversy raged over whether an additional vehicular link between Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan should be built as a bridge or a tunnel. Bridges can be wider and cheaper to build, but taller and longer bridges use more ramp space at landfall than tunnels do. A "Brooklyn Battery Bridge" would have decimated Battery Park and physically encroached on the financial district, and for this reason, the bridge was opposed by the Regional Plan Association, historical preservationists, Wall Street financial interests, property owners, various high society people, construction unions, the Manhattan borough president, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, and governor Herbert H.
Robert Moses | Brooklyn–Battery link
By 1980, the Brooklyn Bridge was in such dire condition that it faced imminent closure. In some places, half of the strands in the cables were broken. In June 1981, two of the diagonal stay cables snapped, seriously injuring a pedestrian who later died. Subsequently, the anchorages were found to have developed rust, and an emergency cable repair was necessitated less than a month later after another cable developed slack. Following the incident, the city accelerated the timetable of its proposed cable replacement, and it commenced a $153 million rehabilitation of the Brooklyn Bridge in advance of the 100th anniversary.
Brooklyn Bridge | Deterioration and late-20th century repair
The Brooklyn Bridge is a concrete girder bridge that carries the Pacific Motorway (M1) across the Hawkesbury River between to Point, located north of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The bridge comprises a dual carriageway with three lanes in each direction of motorway grade-separated conditions. The adjacent Peats Ferry Bridge carries the Pacific Highway (B83) across the Hawkesbury River in a single carriageway with one lane in each direction in state highway conditions. The Peats Ferry Bridge permits the carriage of pedestrian and bicycles; not permitted on the Brooklyn Bridge. Both bridges are maintained by NSW Roads & Maritime Services.
Brooklyn Bridge, New South Wales | Introduction
Each of the side spans is reached by an approach ramp. The approach ramp from the Brooklyn side is shorter than the approach ramp from the Manhattan side. The approaches are supported by Renaissance-style arches made of masonry; the arch openings themselves were filled with brick walls, with small windows within. The approach ramp contains nine arch or iron-girder bridges across side streets in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Underneath the Manhattan approach, a series of brick slopes or "banks" was developed into a skate park, the Brooklyn Banks, in the late 1980s. The park uses the approach's support pillars as obstacles.
Brooklyn Bridge | Approaches
The anchorage on the New York side is a concrete structure, while the anchorage on the New Jersey side is bored directly into the cliff of the Palisades. Originally, the ends of the main cables were supposed to contain one of several ornamented designs, such as a wing, fin, tire, or even a statue at the end of each main cable. This was later eliminated in order to save costs after the start of the Great Depression in 1929.
George Washington Bridge | Cables
Ultimately, the city of Brooklyn chose the landowners' plan. This design was chosen since the canal was narrower at Carroll Street, and a more conventional bascule bridge design might prevent some boats from passing. The new Carroll Street Bridge was designed by chief engineer Robert Van Buren and engineer-in-charge George Ingram. Charles O. H. Fritzche designed the motors while Cooper, Hewitt & Company constructed the steel superstructure. The bridge opened in 1889 at a cost of $29,600. After the Carroll Street Bridge was completed, very few modifications were made to it. The steam motors were supplanted by electric motors in 1908, while the rails and wheels were replaced in 1915 and the handrails were replaced in 1948.
Carroll Street Bridge | History
The towers contain a combined of metal, more than three times the of metal used in the Empire State Building. Because of the height of the towers () and their distance from each other (), 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 farther apart at their tops than at their bases. When built, the bridge's suspension towers were the tallest structures in New York City outside of Manhattan. The diameters of each of the four main suspension cables is . Each main cable is composed of 26,108 wires amounting to a total of in length.
Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge | Description
A plan for trolley service across the Brooklyn Bridge was presented in 1895. Two years later, the Brooklyn Bridge trustees agreed to a plan where trolleys could run across the bridge under ten-year contracts. Trolley service, which began in 1898, ran on what are now the two middle lanes of each roadway (shared with other traffic). When cable service was withdrawn in 1908, the trolley tracks on the Brooklyn side were rebuilt to alleviate congestion. Trolley service on the middle lanes continued until the elevated lines stopped using the bridge in 1944, when they moved to the protected center tracks.
Brooklyn Bridge | Trolleys
It was constructed almost entirely of prestressed concrete, beginning with the towers and followed by the bridge deck, which was cast in individual segments, raised up and secured to each other.
Cable Bridge | Introduction
!scope="col"| Years !!scope="col"| Toll !!scope="col"| Toll equivalentin !class=unsortable|
Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel | Historical tolls
The Brooklyn Bridge gradually deteriorated due to age and neglect. While it had 200 full-time dedicated maintenance workers before World War II, that number dropped to five by the late 20th century, and the city as a whole only had 160 bridge maintenance workers. In 1974, heavy vehicles such as vans and buses were banned from the bridge to prevent further erosion of the concrete roadway. A report in "The New York Times" four years later noted that the cables were visibly fraying and the pedestrian promenade had holes in it. The city began planning to replace all the Brooklyn Bridge's cables at a cost of $115 million, as part of a larger project to renovate all four toll-free East River spans.
Brooklyn Bridge | Deterioration and late-20th century repair
The crossing saw more Brooklyn-bound traffic and less Staten Island-bound traffic as a result. This unidirectional collection remained in effect through the 21st century.
Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge | Additional deck and later years
As a result, engineers turned to the concept of a hybrid suspension/cable-stayed bridge.
North Avenue Bridge | 2007-2008 bridge replacement
The first Broadway Bridge, opened on January 1, 1895, spanned the canal. The 1895 bridge, a steam-powered swinging bridge, accommodated only highway and pedestrian traffic. When a new span was built in 1905 (see ), the original Broadway Bridge was relocated, becoming the University Heights Bridge between Inwood and University Heights, Bronx. In June 1906, the old bridge was floated down the river and placed on a newly constructed center pier. After all the approaches and other construction were completed, the new University Heights Bridge opened to traffic on January 8, 1908.
Broadway Bridge (Manhattan) | First span
When there was only one, it was well enough to call it the Brooklyn Bridge, or the East River Bridge".
Manhattan Bridge | Name
After the suspender wires had been placed, workers began erecting steel crossbeams to support the roadway as part of the bridge's overall superstructure. Construction started on the superstructure in March 1879, but, as with the cables, the trustees initially disagreed on whether the steel superstructure should be made of Bessemer or crucible steel. That July, the trustees decided to award a contract for of Bessemer steel to the Edgemoor (or Edge Moor) Iron Works, based in Philadelphia, to be delivered by 1880. The trustees later passed another resolution for another of Bessemer steel. However, by February 1880 the steel deliveries had not started.
Brooklyn Bridge | Nearing completion
By this time, the construction cost had increased to $22 million. During the stringing of the anchorages, one of the cables on the Brooklyn side broke loose, injuring two people. The last of the suspender ropes supporting the main cables was strung in December of that year. The cables had been strung in four months, The construction of the bridge span required 30,000 tons of steel. Erection of the superstructure and steel fabrication were contracted to The Phoenix Bridge Company. The first girder for the new bridge was installed in February 1909. By April, the majority of the span had been fitted into place between the main cables.
Manhattan Bridge | Construction
The chains of eyebars curve downward from the cables toward the anchor plates, and the eyebars vary in size depending on their position. The anchorages also contain numerous passageways and compartments. Starting in 1876, In order to fund the bridge's maintenance, the New York City government made the large vaults under the bridge's Manhattan anchorage available for rent, and they were in constant use during the early 20th century. The vaults were used to store wine, as they were kept at a consistent temperature due to a lack of air circulation. The Manhattan vault was called the "Blue Grotto" because of a shrine to the Virgin Mary next to an opening at the entrance.
Brooklyn Bridge | Anchorages
Proposals for a bridge between the then-separate cities of Brooklyn and New York had been suggested as early as 1800. At the time, the only travel between the two cities was by a number of ferry lines. Engineers presented various designs, such as chain or link bridges, though these were never built because of the difficulties of constructing a high enough fixed-span bridge across the extremely busy East River. There were also proposals for tunnels under the East River, but these were considered prohibitively expensive. The current Brooklyn Bridge was conceived by German immigrant John Augustus Roebling in 1852. He had previously designed and constructed shorter suspension bridges, such as Roebling's Delaware Aqueduct in Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania, and the John A.
Brooklyn Bridge | Planning
In Manhattan, the pedestrian walkway is accessible from crosswalks at the intersection of the bridge and Centre Street, or through a staircase leading to Park Row.
Brooklyn Bridge | Walkway
Another witness, Edward Wellman Serrell, a civil engineer, said that the calculations of the bridge's assumed strength were incorrect. The Supreme Court decided in 1883 that the Brooklyn Bridge was a lawful structure.
Brooklyn Bridge | Opposition
The Kosciuszko Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge over Newtown Creek in New York City, connecting Greenpoint in Brooklyn to Maspeth in Queens. The bridge consists of a pair of cable-stayed bridge spans: the eastbound span opened in April 2017, while the westbound span opened in August 2019. An older bridge, a truss bridge of the same name that was located on the site of the westbound cable-stayed span, was originally opened in 1939 and was closed and demolished in 2017. The crossing is part of the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway (BQE), which carries Interstate 278. The older truss bridge replaced a swing bridge called the Meeker Avenue Bridge, which connected Meeker Avenue in Brooklyn to Laurel Hill Boulevard in Queens.
Kosciuszko Bridge | Introduction
The first major upgrade to the Brooklyn Bridge commenced in 1948, when a contract for redesigning the bridge was awarded to David B. Steinman. The upgrade was expected to double the capacity of the bridge's roadways to nearly 6,000 cars per hour, at a projected cost of $7 million. The renovation included the demolition of both the elevated and the trolley tracks on the roadways, the removal of trusses separating the inner elevated tracks from the existing vehicle lanes and the widening of each roadway from two to three lanes, as well as the construction of a new steel-and-concrete floor.
Brooklyn Bridge | Upgrades
The bridge is often featured in wide shots of the New York City skyline in television and film, and has been depicted in numerous works of art. Fictional works have used the Brooklyn Bridge as a setting; for instance, the dedication of a portion of the bridge, and the bridge itself, were key components in the 2001 film "Kate & Leopold". Furthermore, the Brooklyn Bridge has also served as an icon of America, with mentions in numerous songs, books, and poems. Among the most notable of these works is that of American Modernist poet Hart Crane, who used the Brooklyn Bridge as a central metaphor and organizing structure for his second book of poetry, "The Bridge".
Brooklyn Bridge | Media
Instead, cameras and E‑ZPass readers are mounted on new overhead gantries near where the booths were located. A vehicle without E-ZPass has a picture taken of its license plate and a bill for the toll is mailed to its owner. For E-ZPass users, sensors detect their transponders wirelessly.
Bronx–Whitestone Bridge | Tolls
After the caissons were completed, piers were constructed on top of each of them upon which masonry towers would be built. The towers' construction was a complex process that took four years. Since the masonry blocks were heavy, the builders transported them to the base of the towers using a pulley system with a continuous -diameter steel wire rope, operated by steam engines at ground level. The blocks were then carried up on a timber track alongside each tower and maneuvered into the proper position using a derrick atop the towers. The blocks sometimes vibrated the ropes because of their weight, but only once did a block fall.
Brooklyn Bridge | Towers
Until 1963, they merged into the downtown express track north of Fulton Street, but now they end at bumper blocks a little north of Fulton Street, and are occasionally used for train storage.
Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall/Chambers Street station | Track layout
In 1905, a bridge was constructed that could accommodate for the extension of the IRT subway line into the Bronx. The 1905 Broadway Bridge was also a swinging bridge, but a second deck was added to allow for subway traffic on the upper deck, and pedestrian and highway traffic on the lower deck. The last subway train crossed the previous Broadway Bridge on December 23, 1960. Over the next two days (Christmas Eve and Christmas Day), the old bridge was removed and the already assembled new bridge floated and hoisted into position, opening to subway traffic on December 26, 1960.
Broadway Bridge (Manhattan) | Second span
HNTB Corporation, the engineering firm of Theodore Zoli, was contracted to build the bridge by the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation. The bridge was announced in April 2012 and was constructed from December 2012 to March 2013. Its purpose was to let people travel from Brooklyn Bridge Park's Pier 1 to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade and Squibb Park. Built from black locust timber supported by galvanized steel cables and mounted on concrete pillars, it was meant to have some degree of bounce when people walked across, based on catwalks found in state parks. The wooden design was meant to be a "stepping stone" for sustainable vehicular bridges in rural areas.
Squibb Park Bridge | Original bridge
Further emergency repairs were undertaken in mid-1999 after small concrete shards began falling from the bridge into the East River. The concrete deck had been installed during the 1950s renovations and had a lifespan of about 60 years. The Park Row exit from the bridge's westbound lanes was closed as a safety measure after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the nearby World Trade Center. That section of Park Row had been closed off since it ran right underneath 1 Police Plaza, the headquarters of the New York City Police Department (NYPD). In early 2003, to save money on electricity, the NYCDOT turned off the bridge's "necklace lights" at night.
Brooklyn Bridge | Deterioration and late-20th century repair
The primary distinguishing feature of BU cars is that they were elevated cars built mostly or substantially of wood, with or without steel frames, where passenger access to the cars was provided by open platforms at both ends of each car. A trainman between each pair of cars manually opened and closed folding gates to admit or bar passengers from entering or leaving. All "gate" cars used in BRT elevated service can be described as BUs. This excludes several classes of elevated equipment: The BU cars should not be confused with the Manhattan El cars, a series of gate cars that were operated by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company.
BU cars (New York City Subway car) | Disambiguation
Upon completion, the new Tappan Zee Bridge became one of the longest cable-stayed spans in the nation. File:TappanZeeBridgeFromBelow.JPG|The original Tappan Zee Bridge, as viewed from the ground. File:Tappan Zee Bridge - Hudson River.JPG|The original Tappan Zee Bridge, as viewed from the bridge deck. File:Mario Cuomo Bridge Overhead.jpg|The new, twin spans of the Mario Cuomo (Tappan Zee) Bridge, as viewed from the air. Note the foundations for the old bridge in front of the new ones. File:Crossing the New Tappan Zee Bridge.jpg|One of the new spans of the Mario Cuomo (Tappan Zee) Bridge, as viewed from the bridge deck.
Interstate 287 | Tappan Zee Bridge replacement
The bridge has four vehicle lanes on the upper level, split between two roadways carrying opposite directions of traffic. The lower level has three vehicle lanes, formerly reversible depending on time of day, but now carrying exclusively Manhattan-bound traffic; four subway tracks, two under each of the upper roadways; a walkway on the west; and a bikeway on the east. The bridge once carried New York State Route 27 and later was planned to carry Interstate 478. The main span is long. Carrère and Hastings designed approach plazas on both ends of the bridge. The bridge was the subject of American artist Edward Hopper's painting "Manhattan Bridge Loop".
Manhattan Bridge | Description
Most suspension bridges have open truss structures to support 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 1961–6. In the picture of the Yichang Bridge, note the very sharp entry edge and sloping undergirders in 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.
Suspension bridge | Deck structure types