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Brooklyn Bridge, photo Bojidar Yanev NYC DOT

amounted to $655.59 million on the Queensboro,
$788.70 million on the Manhattan and $901.41
million on the Williamsburg Bridge. Seeking new
sources of funding in the aftermath of 9/11/2001,
the mayors office is investigating means of rein-
troducing tolls across the East River. The bridges
average from 120,000 to 200,000 vehicles in daily
traffic, hence they could be profitable. On the
other hand, tolls might make them ineligible for
the kind of federal and state funding that paid for
the above rehabilitations. It is unclear what per-
centage of the potential revenue would actually go
to the bridges. The matter is under consideration.
The Triborough, Whitestone and Throgs
Neck bridges, designed by Othmar Ammann and
built under Robert Moses, are currently managed
by the Metropolitan Transit Authority and bring in
were the responsibility of the State Department of
Transportation. City bridges came under the gen-
eral responsibility of the Streets and Highways
Division of the City Department of Transporta-
tion.
After advanced deterioration forced a closure
of the Williamsburg Bridge in 1988, the City
Department of Transportation re-established a
Bureau of Bridges. It assumed charge of roughly
800 city bridges including the four East River
crossings. In 2003 the Bridge Bureau reported
cumulative expenditures of $464 million, in fed-
eral, state and local moneys, on the Brooklyn
Bridge rehabilitation over a period of roughly
twenty years. All vertical suspenders and diagonal
stays were replaced, as was the bridge deck. Reha-
bilitation work over the same period has
The above definitions testify that:
The NBI S are (relatively) comprehensive regu-
lations.
Webster is a (relatively) concise dictionary.
Bridges are artifacts.
The NBI S further designate responsible bridge
owners, who are mandated to inspect their bridges
every two years. The findings must be reported to
the Federal Highway Administration, according
the Coding Guide, issued in 1988 and soon to be
superceded by a new one. The NBIS maintain files
of structural and serviceability ratings on about
600,000 vehicular bridges and 150,000 railroad
ones. Pedestrian bridges are a local concern.
Bridges can be landmarks local, national and
international. The only United States bridge on
the international landmark register is the Cincin-
nati-Covington, designed by John Roebling and
opened to traffic in 1867. Thanks to substantial
strengthening, it carries two lanes of automobile
traffic and looks every inch an artifact.
The Brooklyn Bridge is a national landmark but
not an international one. Its construction started in
1867, took sixteen years and cost $14 million. The
land had cost $25 million. The main span, 487 m
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Who Is Minding the Bridges?
(A Personal Inquiry)
Bojidar Yanev
Bridge: A structure including supports erected over a depression or an obstruction, such as
water, or railway, and having a track or passageway for carrying traffic or other moving
loads, and having an opening measured along the center of the roadway of more than 20 feet
(610 cm) between undercopings of abutments or spring lines of arches, or extreme ends of
openings for multiple boxes; it may also include multiple pipes, where the clear distance
between openings is less than half of the smaller contiguous opening.
National Bridge Inspection Standards (NBIS), Code of Federal Regulations (23 CFR 650.3)
Bridge: A structure spanning and providing a passage over an obstacle, as a waterway.
Artifact:
1. An object produced by human workmanship, esp. a tool, weapon or ornament of archeolog-
ical or historical interest.
2. A structure or substance not normally present but produced by an external agency or action.
Websters II College Dictionary
long, doubled the previous world record. Traffic
opened on May 24, 1883, marking the incorpo-
ration of Manhattan and Brooklyn into a larger
multi-borough New York City. There was a 5-cent
toll for crossing. A week later, panic on the bridge
promenade crushed 12 pedestrians to death. The
Brooklyn, Williamsburg, Manhattan and Queens-
boro bridges over the East River headed the list of
45 bridges under the responsibility of a powerful
Bridge Commission, headquartered at the Munici-
pal Building. Tolls were suspended by order of the
mayor in August 1911. An apocryphal explanation
is that he was trying to improve his public image
after a failed attempt on his life. The consequences
for the bridges remain subject to public debate.
To sell the Brooklyn Bridge is the ultimate
salesmanship test. The feat is presumed impossi-
ble, because (a) no one could possibly own the
bridge and (b) no one could possibly want to. Both
assumptions are perfect folklore without theo-
retical basis but deeply rooted in empirical
evidence.
In 1981 a pedestrian was killed on the Brooklyn
Bridge promenade by a stay cable that ruptured
due to corrosion. The Bridge Commission having
been long gone by then, the East River crossings
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George Washington Bridge, photo Bojidar Yanev NYC DOT
Bridge in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, photo Bojidar Yanev NYC DOT
considerable toll revenues, absorbed, however, by
the unprofitable subway system.
Built by the Port Authority of New York and
New Jersey, the George Washington Bridge linked
the two states over the Hudson River in 1931. The
1 km main span designed by Othmar Ammann
nearly doubled the existing world record and cost
$50 million. In five years the revenue from the
then-10-cent toll recovered the construction cost.
A lower deck was anticipated for train or vehicular
traffic. Six vehicular lanes were added to the exist-
ing eight in 1950, at a construction cost of $75 mil-
lion. In 2004 the toll revenue from the bridge aver-
aged $1 million daily. In other words, it still pays
for itself every five years. A number of New York
City mayors and New York State governors have
challenged the fiscal independence of the Port
Authority, with but limited success. By recent
count, the engineering staff has been reduced to
300 from 1000, but the Port Authority is still as re-
latively autonomous as when Moses conceived it.
Great designers, such as John Augustus Roe-
bling, Othmar Ammann and Gustave Eiffel
impose themselves as natural forces, because their
bridges are indispensable as utilities. The aesthetic
victory of the Eiffel Tower came after it provided
the most popular vertical bridge, if not to the sky,
at least to the skyline. The engineering of the
Channel Tunnel has not been questioned, but the
burdens of debt make the popular structure finan-
cially unstable. Similar are the reputations of the
Concorde supersonic airplane and the NASA space
program.
Bridges are frequently discussed but not by
their most frequent users. Le Corbusier expressed
general disappointment with New Yorks architec-
ture (too few skyscrapers and those not high
enough) but praised the bold pure functionalism
of the silvery George Washington Bridge.
Recently intercepted terrorist messages appar-
ently indicated intent to sabotage the New York
City bridge torn down by Godzilla in the latest dis-
aster movie the Brooklyn Bridge.
John Roebling gave the masonry towers of the
Brooklyn Bridge a strong Gothic flavor, because
that was the symbol of the city he intended for the
coming centuries. Othmar Ammann designed the
towers of Big George in steel, with a granite
cladding for visual substance. That cladding
proved too costly and was never installed. In
recent years environmental concerns have driven
the cost of bridge repainting to $200 per square
meter of steel from $20. The towers are currently
repainted and a cladding that might entirely elimi-
nate such a need in the future is being reconsid-
ered.
Taking bridges out of context is similar to tak-
ing them out of the transportation network,
although the symbolic transfer is easier. Pont du
Gard was built as an aqueduct for the eternal
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Cincinnati-Covington Bridge, photo Bojidar
Yanev NYC DOT
553
future of the Roman Empire; 2000 years later it is
a monument to the Roman heritage of France.
London Bridge acquired monumental status by
immigrating to Arizona after retiring as a traffic
carrier across the Thames.
Hence:
Bridges are built for traffic by builders who
expect some benefits from them.
When designers know their business, the func-
tion elevates the form to a symbol.
No design can save a bridge that is doing poor
business.
Depending on the viewpoint, a bridge can be a
main attraction or a principal environmental
hazard.
The Parks Department does not own the bridges
over the New York parkways, but opines on their
design. Parks sympathize with pedestrians:
Bridges are not welcome, because they bring vehi-
cles. If they are necessary, they must not dominate
the scene. Ideal are the bridges in Central and
Prospect parks. New York City DOT would like to
rebuild bridges such as the footbridge over the Belt
Parkway in Brooklyn at a higher elevation in order
to avoid truck collisions. Parks would rather have
truck obstructions. A pedestrian bridge is ill-suited
for such a purpose and can suffer serious damage,
as the one over the Belt Parkway nearly did. The
Brooklyn bridge, on the other hand, was ade-
quately strengthened and so far the damage has
been mutual, as a recent incident has shown. A
truck was traveling on the Brooklyn-Queens
Expressway and found the Brooklyn Bridge noth-
ing but an obstacle.
Given their vast scope, the Moses projects can
be viewed from virtually every angle, almost as in
the model of New York City that he created for
the Worlds Fair of 1964. The man personified cen-
tralized power and was therefore the symbol to be
dethroned. Since Moses was simultaneously Parks
and Public Works Commissioner, he had to pre-
serve as well as to build, keep vehicles out of the
parks as well as bring them closer. It can be sur-
mised that he liked automobiles, parks and bridges
better than he liked trains. For trucks he built
expressways. His attitude towards busses may
remain debatable. Perhaps in todays world he
would have preferred stretch limos, but that
hypothesis cannot be verified. We are only told
that he never drove a car.
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Pedestrian Bridge over Belt Parkway, Brooklyn, photo Bojidar
Yanev NYC DOT
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Model of New York City for the 1964 Worlds Fair, Queens Museum of Art New York, photo Bojidar Yanev NYC DOT
Overturned Oversize Truck on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway under the Brooklyn Bridge, photo Bojidar Yanev NYC DOT