MANHATTAN BRIDGE

New York, NY

The Manhattan Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the East River in New York City, connecting Lower Manhattan at Canal Street with Dumbo (down under Manhattan bridge overpass), a neighborhood of Brooklyn. Designed by Leon Moisseiff and built by the Phoenix Bridge Company, the bridge has a total length of 1.3 miles. It is one of four bridges connecting Manhattan Island to Long Island.

The Brooklyn Bridge is just slightly farther downstream on the river. The Manhattan Bridge carries seven vehicular lanes, four on an upper level and three on a lower level, as well as four subway tracks, two each flanking the lower-level roadway. Foundations for the bridge's suspension towers were completed in 1904, followed by the anchorages in 1907 and the towers in 1908. The Manhattan Bridge opened to traffic on December 31, 1909, and began carrying streetcars in 1912 and New York City Subway trains in 1915. The eastern upper-deck roadway was installed in 1922. Streetcars stopped running in 1929, and the western upper roadway was finished two years later. The uneven weight of subway trains crossing the Manhattan Bridge caused it to tilt to one side, necessitating an extensive reconstruction between 1982 and 2004. The span is carried by four main cables, which travel between masonry anchorages at either side of the bridge, and 1,400 vertical suspender cables.

My NY architect son suggested this view. When I arrived on an early Saturday morning, it was sunny and moderate. There were hundreds of tourists there taking photos and selfies of this exact view, confirming it was the best vista. As usual, I had a few interested visitors sit with me as I worked on this sketch.