Manhatten Bridge, New York

Architect	Leon Moiseiff
Date Built	Opened to traffic December 31, 1909
Location	Connecting Manhattan Island to Long Island
§Description
The Manhattan Bridge is a suspension bridge that has a main span of 1,470 feet and a total length of 6,855 ft. It crosses the East River connecting Lower Manhatten with Downtown Brooklyn. It is one of four toll-free bridges linking Manhatten with Long Island. The bridge's Wikipedia page says that, "... The bridge was designed by Leon Moisseiff, built by The Phoenix Bridge Company, and opened to traffic on December 31, 1909. An innovative design, it was the first suspension bridge to employ Josef Melan's deflection theory for deck stiffening, resulting in the first use of a lightly-webbed weight-saving Warren truss for its construction. Considered the forerunner of modern suspension bridges, it served as the model for many of the record-breaking spans built in the first half of the twentieth century." "The bridge has four vehicle lanes on the upper level, split between two roadways carrying opposite directions of traffic. The lower level has three Manhattan-bound (formerly reversible) vehicle lanes, four subway tracks, a walkway and a bikeway. The bridge once carried New York State Route 27 and later was planned to carry Interstate 478."

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