On This Day

Friday 31st December 1909

110 years ago

The 1,470-foot span Manhattan Bridge across the East River, New York opened to traffic. The Manhattan Bridge was the fourth bridge between Manhattan and the boroughs across the river. It has four vehicle lanes on the upper level (split between two roadways). The lower level has three lanes, four subway tracks, a walkway and a bikeway. The bridge is newer than the Brooklyn Bridge and the Williamsburg Bridge, the other two suspension bridges that span the East River, and often acts as an alternate route due to its proximity to the Brooklyn Bridge. The Manhattan Bridge, which is 6,855 feet (2,089 metres) long, consists of a double-deck motorway with four lanes on top and three lanes on the bottom that are designed to change direction when necessary to assist traffic flow. In addition to cars, the bridge carries four subway lines, a pedestrian lane, and a separate bikeway. Nearly 80,000 vehicles and more than 320,000 people use it (via public transportation) each day. Construction began on the bridge in 1901 under the instruction of the New York City Department of Bridges commissioner Gustav Lindenthal and the chief engineer R.S. Buck. Just three years later, however, local politicking was responsible for the pair being replaced with George E. Best and Othniel Foster Nichols, respectively. The bridge design was based on deflection theory, a new concept at the time that was developed by Joseph Melan and applied to the bridge by the chief engineer Leon Moisseiff. This design saved in cost, material, and construction time. Renovations in 1940 revealed significant wear on the structure, with the subway trains partly responsible for the wear. Those trains, upon entering the bridge at the same time from opposite sides, would cause the bridge to shift up to 8 feet (approximately 2.5 metres). Additional renovations were undertaken in 1978. Since then the Manhattan Bridge has been featured in movies, has undergone regular repairs and retrofitting, and remains one of the most graceful bridges in New York City.