Grace's Guide To British Industrial History

Registered UK Charity (No. 115342)

Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 162,258 pages of information and 244,500 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.

Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 147,919 pages of information and 233,587 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.

Manhattan Bridge

From Graces Guide
2018. Photo: Lewis Firman
Photo: L. Firman
Photo: L. Firman
Panoramic photo: L. Firman

The Manhattan Bridge is a suspension bridge crossing the East River in New York City, connecting Lower Manhattan with Brooklyn

The main span is 1,470 ft (448 m) long, with the suspension cables being 3,224 ft (983 m) long. The bridge's total length is 6,855 ft (2,089 m). It is one of four toll-free bridges spanning the East River; the other three are the Queensboro Bridge, Williamsburg Bridge, and Brooklyn Bridge.

Strangely, the possible use of suspension chains as an alternative to steel wire was still being debated during the early stages of cobstruction[1]

Construction of the towers started c.1901. Opened to traffic on December 31, 1909. It was designed by Leon Moisseiff and is considered to be the forerunner of modern suspension bridges [basis?]. It was the first suspension bridge to utilize a Warren truss in its design.

The Phoenix Bridge Co were the contractors for the erection of the superstructure and steel fabrication.

An upper-deck roadway on the bridge was installed in 1922.

See Wikipedia entry for much more information, including details of numerous problems in service.


See Also

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Sources of Information

  1. [1] The Engineer, 14 Aug 1903, p.156