New York, being on several islands, are closely linked to her bridges. So it is no wonder that her bridges are extraordinary in many ways.

Verrazano Narrows Bridge

When it opened in 1964, the massive Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was the world's longest suspension span. The ends of the bridge are at historic Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn and Fort Wadsworth in Staten Island, both of which guarded New York Harbor at the Narrows for over a century. The bridge was named after Giovanni da Verrazano, who, in 1524, was the first European explorer to sail into New York Harbor.

The numbers for it are as immense as its size. Its monumental 693 foot high towers are 1 5/8 inches farther apart at their tops than at their bases because the 4,260 foot distance between them made it necessary to compensate for the earth's curvature. Each tower weighs 27,000 tons and is held together with three million rivets and one million bolts. 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. In Brooklyn, the bridge connects to the Belt Parkway and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and to the largely residential community of Bay Ridge. On Staten Island it joins the Staten Island Expressway, providing access to the many communities in this most rural of the city's five boroughs.

Brooklyn Bridge

The Brooklyn Bridge, one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States, stretches 5,989 feet over the East River connecting the Manhattan and Brooklyn. On completion, it was the largest suspension bridge in the world and the first steel-wire suspension bridge.

Contemporaries marveled at what technology was capable of and the bridge became a symbol of the optimism of the time. References to "selling the Brooklyn Bridge" abound in American culture, sometimes as examples of rural gullibility but more often in connection with an idea that strains credulity. For example, "If you believe that, I have a wonderful bargain for you…"

Its role in allowing thousands to cross takes on a special importance in times of crisis and has become a symbol of New Yorkers' resilience. During transit strikes in 1980 and 2005 the bridge was used by people commuting to work, with Mayors Koch and Bloomberg crossing the bridge to show solidarity with the inconvenienced public. Following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, the bridge was used by people in Manhattan to escape after subway service was suspended.

Other bridges

Actually bigger than the older Brooklyn Bridge, the Williamsburg Bridge is the largest of the three suspension bridges that span the heavily-navigated East River. A gargantuan structure noted for its 35-story steel towers and ponderous stiffening trusses, the Williamsburg Bridge boldly reaches from Delancey Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan to Marcy Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The bridge took seven years and $30 million to construct. Upon its completion in 1903, it became the longest suspension bridge in the world.

The Manhattan Bridge is the last of the three great suspension bridges constructed across the East River, and probably the most beautiful. During an average day, more than 78,000 vehicles and 350,000 people use the bridge’s six roadways and two subway tracks to pass between Canal Street in lower Manhattan and Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn. It has a splendid set of approaches making it one of the most aesthetically pleasing of New York City’s transportation structures.