Happy Birthday Manhattan Bridge!

[Amanita]

Here's a happy 99th birthday shout out to Manhattan Bridge, the lovely but often overlooked neighbor to Brooklyn Bridge of NYC!

Manhattan Bridge has had one heck of an eventful life so far! She was one of the first bridges designed in North America using Deflection Theory, by the famous bridge engineer Leon Moissief.
For some reason, the subway tracks this bridge carries were placed on the outsides of her deck, and this decision has caused no end of grief over the years.
As one brutally heavy train runs along one side of the deck, it causes the deck to dip down by about 4 feet. Now, if another train is coming down the opposite side at the same time, it too will cause the same deflection, for a total of 8 feet. This constant twisting over the years, coupled with often sporadic and patchy maintanance has caused a lot of damage to accumulate over the years- so much that Manhattan Bridge has spent the past several years undergoing major rehabilitation surgery.
It's going to wrap up next year with a replacement of her vertical suspender ropes and necklace lighting, and then she's going to get a seismic retrofit.

So here's to you, long-suffering and under-appreciated, yet beautiful bridge!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_bridge

ps- even the movies don't give this bridge much respect- she was shown together with Brooklyn Bridge with her center span blown out in the movie "I am legend".

[MolsonExport]

A wonderful structure.

[CGII]

My favourite of the three bridges, and also my favourite to cross on bicycle.

[mainstreet]

Probably my favorite New York bridge, more than the Brooklyn Bridge by a bit. This wikipedia shot of its construction is really great:

[TANGELD_SLC]

It's actually a really beautiful bridge. Very under-appreciated too.

[Amanita]

The only book I can find about her is called "Manhattan Bridge: The Troubled story of a new york monument", and I got a copy of it from betterworldbooks.com.

It's sad how neglected this lovely bridge is.

[ardecila]

Very true. I've never been a fan of the Williamsburg Bridge, but the Manhattan Bridge is gorgeous. The pictures taken by Berenice Abbott are hauntingly beautiful - I have this one up on my wall.

[Amanita]

You can also see Manhattan Bridge in Janet Jackson's "Runaway" video- she and her crew look like they're dancing on top of one of the towers, with those lovely globes.

Poor Williamsburg bridge- that one is kind of an odd bridge out- what ornament there is looks like it was tacked on as an after thought.
In my book "Bridges of New York", they show an unused design for the Triborough bridge- I wish they had used it- it looked like Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridge had made a lovechild- seriously. The thing had Brooklyn's double gothic arches, with Manhattan's beaux-arts ornament. Overall, quite nice.