Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

258 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. Fig. 2.—SKETCH MAP OF NEW YORK, SHOWING POSI- TIONS OF BRIDGES CONSTRUCTED, IN COURSE OF CONSTRUCTION, AND PROPOSED ; ALSO POSITIONS OF TUNNELS (BROKEN LINES). piece to the strength on which future genera- tions will rely. The great East River bridges alone would give first place to New York. But we find our attention engaged by other notable struc- tures—the Washington arch, bridge over the Harlem River, the classic High Bridge of the first Croton Aqueduct, and others. Then, accustoming our eyes to a smaller scale, we see a profusion of drawbridges, including almost every known variety of this many- formed device—swinging, sliding in or out, pivoted to lift upward, single-deck or double- deck—carrying light street traffic or the heavy trains of great trunk-line railways. Last, but not least, if we look to the imme- diate future, we learn of plans for building three bridges greater than any now existing— structures defying every tradition, every previ- ous possibility, and so far transcending New York’s present achievements in the way of bridges as to render them mere commonplaces —a suspension bridge across the Hudson, span- ning 3,000 feet clear ; a concrete arch, 703 feet from abutment to abutment, at the north end of Manhattan Island ; and a 1,000-foot steel arch bridge across that part of the East River to which the rushing tidal currents have given the name Hell Gate. The latter bridge is projected by the Pennsylvania Railroad for a direct connection with the New England rail- ways. With many marvels of bridge-building skill thus open to our inspection in the American metropolis, let those who interest themselves in the intricacies of bridgework take a brief sur- vey of some of New York’s notable structures. The matter is well worthy of their attention. The keynote of the New York situation is, of course, the fact that bridges are vitally essential to the business of the city, because they form indispensable means of intercommunication between its different sections. The broad Hudson River on the East River on the east separate the business focus, Manhattan Island, from the residential suburbs in New Jersey and from the “ City of Homes,” Brooklyn. New York could either remain self-limited, cut off from its neigh- bours, or it must develop quick and cheap transportation across the rivers. But the portal of America, with the finest harbour on the Atlantic seaboard, experiencing an im- mense and ever-increasing pressure of business and a corresponding great flow of population, could not remain isolated. The development of transportation facilities was inevitable. The Need for Bridges.