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| Top Ten
NYC Architecture |
top ten New York Bridges |
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For a more complete list, see
Bridge |
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| 1 |
Brooklyn
Bridge |
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architect
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John Augustus
Roebling, completed by son,
Washington Augustus Roebling |
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location
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East River. Park Row,
Manhattan to Adams Street, Brooklyn. |
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date
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1869 to 1883 |
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style
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Gothic
piers, Structural
Expressionist
cables and bridge deck |
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construction
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steel cable, stone masonry piers |
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type
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suspension Bridge |
The Brooklyn Bridge, one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United
States, stretches 5,989 feet (1825 m)[1] over the East River connecting
the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. On completion, it
was the largest suspension bridge in the world and the first steel-wire
suspension bridge. Originally referred to as the New York and Brooklyn
Bridge, it was dubbed the Brooklyn Bridge in an 1867 letter to the
editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle,[2] and formally so named by the city
government in 1915. Since its opening, it has become an iconic part of
the New York skyline. In 1964 it was designated a National Historic
Landmark. |
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| 2 |
Manhattan
Bridge |
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The Manhattan Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the East River
in New York City, connecting Lower Manhattan (at Canal Street) with
Brooklyn (at Flatbush Avenue Extension). It was the last of the three
suspension bridges built across the lower East River, following the
Brooklyn and the Williamsburg bridges. The bridge was opened to traffic
on December 31, 1909 and was designed and built by Polish bridge
engineer Ralph Modjeski with the deflection cables designed by Leon
Moisseiff, who later designed the infamous Tacoma Narrows Bridge in
1940. It has 4 vehicle lanes on the upper level (split between two
roadways), and 3 vehicle lanes, 4 subway tracks, a walkway and a bikeway
on the lower level. The upper level, originally used for streetcars, has
2 lanes in each direction, and the lower level can be one-way in peak
direction or have 2 lanes in one direction and the other in the opposite
direction. It once carried New York State Route 27 and later was planned
to carry Interstate 478. No tolls are charged for motor vehicles to use
Manhattan Bridge.
The original pedestrian walkway on the south side of the bridge was
reopened after sixty years in June 2001. It was also used by bicycles
until late summer 2004, when a dedicated bicycle path was opened on the
north side of the bridge, and again in 2007 while the bike lane was used
for truck access during repairs to the lower motor roadway. |
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| 3 |
Williamsburg
Bridge |
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Construction on the bridge, the second to cross this river, began in
1896, with Leffert L. Buck as chief engineer, Henry Hornbostel as
architect and Holton D. Robinson as assistant engineer, and the bridge
opened on December 19, 1903 at a cost of $12,000,000. At the time it was
constructed, the Williamsburg Bridge was the largest suspension bridge
on Earth, and remained so until the Bear Mountain Bridge was completed
in 1924. It is an unconventional structure, as suspension bridges go;
though the main span hangs from cables in the usual manner, the side
spans leading to the approaches are cantilevered, drawing no support
from the cables above. The main span of the bridge is 1600 feet (488 m)
long. The entire bridge is 7308 feet (2227 m) long between cable anchor
terminals, and the deck is 118 feet (36 m) wide. The height at the
center of the bridge is 135 feet (41 m) and each tower is 335 feet (102
m); these measurements taken from the river's surface at high water
mark. |
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| 4 |
George Washington
Bridge |
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The George Washington Bridge (known informally as the GW Bridge[3], the
GWB[4], the GW[5], or the George[6]) is a suspension bridge spanning the
Hudson River, connecting the Washington Heights neighborhood in the
borough of Manhattan in New York City to Fort Lee in New Jersey by means
of Interstate 95, U.S. Route 1/9. U.S. Route 46, which is entirely in
New Jersey, ends halfway across the bridge at the state border. The GW
is considered one of the world's busiest bridges in terms of vehicle
traffic;[7] In 2004, the bridge carried 108,404,000 vehicles, with
current AADT estimates of nearly 300,000 vehicles daily. The GW span is
the fourth largest suspension bridge in the United States.
The bridge contains two levels, an upper level with four lanes in each
direction and a lower level with three lanes in each direction, for a
total of 14 lanes of travel. Additionally, the bridge houses a path on
each side of the bridge for pedestrian traffic. The speed limit on the
bridge is 45 mph (70 km/h), though heavy traffic is common and
frequently makes it difficult to reach such speeds. |
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| 5 |
Hell Gate
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The Hell Gate Bridge (originally the New York Connecting Railroad Bridge
or The East River Arch Bridge) is a 1,017-foot (310 m) steel arch
railroad bridge between Astoria in the borough of Queens and Randalls
and Wards Islands (which are now joined into one island and are
politically part of Manhattan) in New York City, over a portion of the
East River known as Hell Gate.
The Bridge is used by Amtrak and by some CSX, Canadian Pacific,
Providence & Worcester Railroad, and New York and Atlantic freight
trains. The bridge and structure are owned by Amtrak, part of its
Washington, D.C. to Boston electrified main line known as the Northeast
Corridor. Metro-North Railroad trains may one day run on the bridge. The
bridge is also part of the New York Connecting Railroad, a rail line
that links New York City and Long Island to the North American mainland.
The Hell Gate Bridge runs parallel to the Queens span of the Triborough
Bridge, which connects Queens, the Bronx, and Manhattan, and drivers can
see the length of the bridge just east of the roadway.
The great arch bridge is the largest of three bridges, along with more
than 17,000 feet (5.2 km) long of approach spans and viaducts, that form
the Hell Gate complex. An inverted bowstring truss bridge with four
300-foot spans crosses the Little Hell Gate (now filled in); and a
350-foot fixed truss bridge crosses the Bronx Kills (also now filled
in). |
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| 6 |
Queensboro
Bridge |
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architect
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Gustav
Lindenthal in collaboration with Leffert L. Buck and Henry
Hornbostel (designers of the Williamsburg Bridge). |
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location
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Connects Queens Plaza
with mid-town Manhattan |
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date
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1909 |
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style
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Structural Expressionism |
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construction
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steel
Design Double-decked Cantilever bridge
Longest span 360.27 meters (1,182 feet) (west span)
299.92 meters (984 feet) (east span)
192.024 meters (630 feet) (center span)
Total length 1,135.08 meters (3,724 feet)
Vertical clearance 12 feet (3.6 m) (upper level) |
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type
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Cantilever Bridge |
The Queensboro Bridge, also known as the 59th Street Bridge, is a
cantilever bridge over the East River in New York City that was
completed in 1909. It connects the neighborhood of Long Island City in
the borough of Queens with Manhattan, passing over Roosevelt Island. It
carries New York State Route 25 and once carried NY 24 and NY 25A as
well.
The Queensboro Bridge is the westernmost of the four East River spans
that carry a route number: NY 25 terminates at the west (Manhattan) side
of the bridge. It is commonly called the "59th Street Bridge" by New
York City residents because its Manhattan end is located between 59th
and 60th Streets. |
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| 7 |
Triborough
Bridge |
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_small.jpg) |
The Triborough Bridge is a complex of three bridges connecting the New
York City boroughs of the Bronx, Manhattan, and Queens, using what were
two islands, Ward's Island and Randall's Island as intermediate
rights-of-way between the water crossings. These two islands have been
consolidated by landfill.
The bridges span the Hell Gate (a tidal channel of the East River),
Harlem River, and Bronx Kill. Construction had begun on Black Friday in
1929, and the Triborough project's outlook began to look bleak. Othmar
Ammann's assistance was enlisted to help simplify the structure. Ammann
had collapsed the original two-deck roadway into one, requiring lighter
towers, and thus, lighter piers. These cost-saving revisions saved $10
million on the towers alone. Using New Deal money, the project was
resurrected in the early 1930s by Robert Moses and the bridge was opened
to traffic on July 11, 1936. Its cost was greater than that of the
Hoover Dam. |
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| 8 |
Verrazano
Bridge |
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architect
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Senior partner Othmar Herrmann Ammann
Chief engineer Milton Brumer
Project engineers Herb Rothman, Frank L. Stahl
Design engineer Leopold H. Just
Engineer of construction John West Kinney |
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location
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Staten Island – Brooklyn |
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date
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Opening date November 21, 1964 (upper level)
June 28, 1969 (lower level) |
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style
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Structural Expressionism,
International Style II
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construction
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Design Double-decked Suspension bridge
Longest span 4,260 feet (1,298 m) |
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type
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Bridge |
The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge that
connects the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City at
the Narrows, the reach connecting the relatively protected upper bay
with the larger lower bay.
The bridge is named for Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano, the
first known European navigator to enter New York Harbor and the Hudson
River, while crossing The Narrows. It has a center span of 4,260 feet
(1,298 m) and was the largest suspension bridge in the world from the
time of its completion in 1964 until 1981. It now has the seventh
longest center span in the world but still is the largest suspension
bridge in the United States. Its massive towers can be seen throughout a
good part of the New York metropolitan area, including from spots in all
five boroughs of New York City. |
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| 9 |
Pine Bank Bridge |
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architect
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attrib.
Calvert
Vaux |
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location
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Central Park |
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date
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1861 |
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style
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Italianate |
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construction
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cast iron and wood |
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type
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Bridge |
Located east of the West Drive
at 62nd Street, stands the elegant Pine Bank Bridge, the most well known
of all the bridges in Central Park.
It is the only cast-iron bridge that still remains over the bridle path
near the Heckscher
Playground. Two other cast-iron bridges over the bridle path were
unfortunately eliminated during its expansion in the 1930s.
Nestled between two natural rock outcroppings it has two shaped concrete
structures with four posts on both ends of the bridge. Take a stroll along
the wood walkway to observe the beauty of its ornate cast-iron handrail,
featuring intricate latticework in a Gothic influenced style. In 1984, the
Pine Bank Bridge was restored by the Parks Department. |
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| 10 |
Bow Bridge
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_small.jpg) |
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architect
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Calvert
Vaux
1824-1895 & Jacob Wrey Mould 1825-1886
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location
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Central Park |
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date
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1859-1862 |
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style
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Classical Greek with
its clean elegance to Renaissance Gothic with its cinquefoils and
foliate designs. It is cornered with four posts each of which originally
supported vases,
which have since been removed. |
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construction
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Constructed of ipe, a South American
hardwood. When new the wood is red and the
rain brings out its deep rich color. |
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type
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Bridge |
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The majestic grace and style of
its unique curved railing as it sweeps 60 feet over the Lake
is admired by Central Park visitors from all over the world. For this
reason, Bow Bridge has been featured as a
memorable locale in many professional film shoots for movies, TV
productions and commercials. It harmoniously connects the forested woods
of the Ramble
to the refined flowering landscape of Cherry Hill.
Bow Bridge provides a vast scenic view of the skylines along Fifth Avenue
and Central Park West.
During the warm weather months, Bow Bridge is the perfect spot to watch
rowboats sailing from one side of the Lake
to the other. |
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