When was verrazano built

The bridge was named for both, the Florentine explorer Giovanni da Verrazano, who, in , was the first European to sail into New York Harbor, and for the body of water it spans: the Narrows. Each tower weighs 27, tons and is held together with three million rivets and one million bolts.

The diameter of each of the four suspension cables is 36 inches mm. Each cable is composed of 26, wires amounting to a total of , miles , km in length. Seasonal contractions and expansions of the steel cables cause the double-decked roadway to be 12 feet lower in the summer than in the winter. Located at the mouth of upper New York Bay, the bridge not only connects Brooklyn with Staten Island but is also a major link in the interstate highway system, providing the shortest route between the middle Atlantic states and Long Island.

The bridge was the last great public works project in New York City overseen by Robert Moses, the New York State Parks Commissioner and head of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, who had long desired the bridge as a means of completing the expressway system which was itself largely the result of his efforts.

The plans to build the bridge caused considerable controversy in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bay Ridge, because many families had settled in homes in the area where the bridge now stands and were forced to relocate.

Wagner cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony, which was attended by over 5, people. The toll is only one-way largely because of air pollution. After the bridge opened, traffic began backing up on Staten Island, and residents complained about the air quality , leading to a change in the toll collection in , which is also the same time Staten Island residents began getting a discount to cross the bridge. Animals sometimes disrupt traffic on the bridge.

A few examples: This year two deer shut down traffic on the bridge for about 10 minutes. In , truck drivers coordinated to stop traffic after a jerk threw a kitten out of a moving car ; the cat was okay, though, and is living the good life with Whoopie Goldberg. In , an injured Canada goose that escaped from the nearby Poly Prep campus held up traffic for about half an hour.

Like these peregrine falcons. The roadway of the bridge is 12 feet lower in the summer than in the winter because of thermal expansion. It takes about 11, gallons of paint to fancy-up and protect the bridge. It has lights , which, as of , are all LED bulbs — those were installed four years before the city announced plans to use LED bulbs in all its street lights. The current largest American flag is apparently flying in North Korea. To Talese, the Verrazano is about more than transportation.

At night, lights pick out the graceful curve of the four great cables, each three feet in diameter, spun from enough steel wire to reach more than halfway to the moon. Post a Comment.