Part 3: The Age of the Auto: 1920-1960
In this series, we have covered the explosion in bridge building in the late 1800s and early 1900s that made New York City what it is today and changed the architectural world forever.
We are looking back at some of the projects that started the era of modern city building.
Communicating with stakeholders, streamlining processes, and unifying engineering and architecture have all come a long way since the beginning of modern cities, but many of the same problems are still being solved today.
In this section, we will look at one of the most well-remembered eras in human infrastructure, the interwar and post-war periods in New York City, a time of consolidation and centralization across the boroughs.
Automobiles and Robert Moses
One of the most important developments in New York City planning was the introduction of the automobile. The amount in the city began to increase substantially during the 1920s, with the number exploding after World War II.
No one person affected this shift in infrastructure more than Robert Moses, who served in several important roles that affected infrastructure during this time period.
Moses has rightfully been criticized for over-prioritizing the automobile, often at the expense of underprivileged communities, but his decisions and planning have left an enduring mark on the city that cannot be ignored.
The time period where he served in administrative positions was marked by the consolidation of infrastructural control to the state government, and his controversial planning of the interstate system through the city still shapes it today.
RFK Bridge
Originally known as the Triborough Bridge, the Robert F. Kennedy is not a single bridge but a complex of bridges that connects Queens, Manhattan, and the Bronx over Randalls Island where the Harlem River and East River meet.
Three major bridges form the complex, which was pushed forward by Moses to connect major interstates to an interchange that connects the three boroughs. Though completed in 1936, planning for the bridge began as early as 1916.
Originally it was suggested that the massive interchange include train and subway, but under Moses’ control, it was assigned only to automobiles, though the large Hells Gate Bridge is nearby and still carries Amtrak passenger trains.
The bridge was in part funded by New Deal programs. It has massive interchanges that cover large areas of ground on Randalls Island and where the three primary bridges connect with the boroughs.
It includes the Harlem River Lift Bridge, Bronx Kill Crossing (a truss bridge), and the Hell Gate Suspension Bridge.
The JFK Bridge complex was an example of centralization, with Moses as the master planner, and the massive amount of resources that could be leveraged for efficiency by a government project.
“Cities are created by and thrive on movement. Remove traffic and you kill the city,” said Moses at the time.
Though Moses’ control affected the end result to a degree that left out many stakeholders, the foremost being the subway system.
Ultimately, the interchange system and car-oriented design of the bridge set the tone for infrastructure projects for decades to come. Also involved were renowned bridge engineer Othmar Ammann and architect Aymar Embury II.
George Washington Bridge
Technically completed before the RFK Bridge, in 1931, the George Washington Bridge was the first major bridge to be built solely for automobile traffic.
It opened as a single-level bridge, but a second level for additional traffic was added in the 1960s.
Othmar Amman used mostly steel to design the bridge, but as opposed to earlier bridges that did not account for growth, Amman designed the George Washington Bridge to be able to expand, so no major changes to the actual plans had to be implemented in order to expand it from six to 14 lanes.
Today it is the world’s busiest motorway on a suspension bridge and still holds more lanes than any other suspension bridge in the world.
At the time of its opening, it was also the longest suspension bridge in the world, until the Golden Gate Bridge opened in San Francisco six years later.
In order to accommodate the weight of automobile traffic, extremely thick cables were produced. The project shows how far bridge engineering and steelwork had come, driven further by the wartime production boom.
The bridge was built at a rapid pace, it took only five years, and it showed how complicated building in the city had become, with developers and local officials vying over where the bridge should be built.
In the 1920s the Port of New York Authority was founded to control Hudson River crossings and other transit modes, and Amman was named chief engineer, giving him substantial control over the process.
Planning Grows Up
The processes required to carry out these infrastructure projects required centralized planning and material production on a scale not seen before.
Today, we still centralize processes and rely on planning and approvals from the government, but technology has allowed multiple factors to be worked into projects at the planning level, mitigating the need for domineering figures.
👉 Learn how Arcol can centralize requirements, aesthetics and planning on boards
To The Present
In this series, we have looked at some of the planning and engineering wonders that have been part of the story of bridge building in New York City. These advancements have allowed the city to become one of the most vibrant in the world, and the shapes of the bridges define the skyline.
Though locals complain about constant repairs, it’s often impressive that the original structures of many bridges still function in New York, with the Brooklyn Bridge nearing its 150th birthday.
Much of the bridge work in the present day has consisted of both maintaining the old structures as well as opening many of the bridges to non-motorized uses. Now, cyclists can travel over most of the bridges in the city.
Many advances have also been made in monitoring and repair, as well as fabrication methods, with composites and high-quality concrete increasing the strength of bridges.
Pre-fabrication methods have also been developed to expedite the repair and replacement of bridges in order to not interrupt the flow of traffic throughout the city.
The Kosciuszko Bridge features a sleek new design that was replaced in parts in the 2010s to keep the bridge operational. Similar methods were used for the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, which crosses a wide stretch of the Hudson River north of the city.
Advanced systems such as remote monitoring and AI have been implemented to reduce the need for manual inspections.
Today, many of the truly monumental bridge projects happen elsewhere. The Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge is the longest in the world and opened in 2011. The longest suspension bridge in the world is the Çanakkale Bridge, opened in 2022.
The age of massive bridge building in New York has passed, but the lessons learned from the great infrastructure projects of the 20th century continue to inform work today.
Though it cannot be seen and does not have the same sort of physical monumentality, the technical advances in tools used in AEC represent monumental steps forward in the great leaps and bounds that industrial construction has taken in the last two hundred years.
The legacy of the modern city is one of building and working through increasing complexity. With collaboration being at our product core — Arcol aims to keep that the legacy alive, bringing all this work together for every architect and engineer.
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That’s a wrap on our Bridges of New York series! Looking back at historical challenges gives us fresh insight into today’s design problems. If you enjoyed it, let us know at info@arcol.io—and stay tuned for more!
