Manhattan Bridge
NBI Information
Location
State: New York
County: New York County
Feature Carried: NY-27 and New York City Subway
Feature Crossed: East River, FDR Drive, and Local Roads
Latitude, Longitude: 40.7096,-73.9919
Toll: On free road
Maintenance Responsibility: City or Municipal Highway Agency
Structure Open, Posted, or Closed to Traffic: Open, no restriction
History
Year Built: 1909
Historical Significance: Bridge is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Year Reconstructed: 2004
Picture Date: February 23, 2020 and March 22, 2023
Geometry
Lanes on Structure: 7
Lanes under Structure: 37
Skew: 0 degrees
Number of Main Spans: 3
Main Structure Type: Suspension
Main Structure Material: Steel
Number of Approach Spans: 40
Approach Structure Type: Truss - Deck
Approach Structure Material: Steel
Condition
Inspection Date: November 2022
Deck Condition: Good
Superstructure Condition: Fair
Substructure Condition: Fair
Channel Condition: Very Good
Culvert: Not Applicable
NBI Year: 2023
Bridge Information
The Manhattan Bridge is one of the many iconic bridges in New York City. It spans the East River and connects Manhattan and Brooklyn. It was built in 1909, and special attention was paid to the aesthetics of the bridge. At that time, the neighboring bridges were seen as utilitarian and ugly, so this bridge was strongly decorated with ornate embellishments. This give the bridge a European appearance, which is not common in the United States.
The Manhattan Bridge was the first bridge to employ Josef Melan's deflection theory for deck stiffening, which resulted in a lightly-webbed weight-saving Warren truss for its construction. It is often considered the forerunner of modern suspension bridges and served as the model for many of the record-breaking spans built in the first half of the twentieth century.
The two-level bridge was originally built to carry four lanes of traffic, eight rail lines and two pedestrian walkways. As transportation modes changed, this was no longer sufficient, and in the 1940’s the bridge was reconfigured to carry seven lanes of traffic, four subway tracks, and the original two pedestrian walkways.
References
Historic Bridges: https://historicbridges.org/bridges/browser/?bridgebrowser=newyork/manhattan/
NYC.gov: https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/infrastructure/manhattan-bridge.shtml
ASCE: https://www.asce.org/about-civil-engineering/history-and-heritage/historic-landmarks/manhattan-bridge
