December 14, 2003
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRIDGE:
Want to Build a Bridge? (DAVID MACAULAY, 12/14/03, NY Times)
This Friday, on Dec. 19, New York's Williamsburg Bridge will turn 100. Leffert L. Buck, the chief engineer, finished his plans for the bridge in 1896. At the time, the Brooklyn Bridge, then only 13 years old, was already carrying considerably more people and vehicles than its builders had predicted. To accommodate the expected heavy commuter traffic between the Lower East Side and the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, Buck envisioned a bridge approximately half again as wide as its more famous neighbor, with 10 rather than six lanes for trains, trolleys and carriages. There would also be two paths for pedestrians. (The Brooklyn Bridge has only one.)Posted by Orrin Judd at December 14, 2003 09:40 AMWhile the Williamsburg Bridge would never rival John and Washington Roebling's creation in the hearts of New Yorkers, it did find other ways to distinguish itself. At 1,600 feet, its main span is four and a half feet longer than that of the Brooklyn Bridge. For 20 years, in fact, it held the title of the world's longest suspension bridge.
Even if it were shorter, though, the Williamsburg Bridge would still be worthy of celebration. [...]
[Y]ou can honor the bridge by building your own model of it. Click on the link above right, under "Multimedia," for instructions for cutting up the Op-Ed page (not something that's generally encouraged) and constructing a smaller version of Leffert Buck's creation. It won't be easy. You'll need a copying machine, some heavy paper (I used cover stock), glue, tape, an X-Acto knife and patience. But think of it this way. It took seven years to build a bridge that's lasted a century. You can have your own version in only a few hours — and who knows how long the pleasure will last.
New York is lucky that at least part of the Willie B didn't go crashing into the East River in the late 1980s. While the Brooklyn Bridge got a major refurbishing for its 100th annivarsity, the Williamsburgh was pretty much ignored until a big chunk of it went plunging down onto Delancey Street one day. An inspection then revealed some of the suporting suspension cabled were frayed or even broke, while parts of the roadbed and superstructure were rusting away.
The bridge has been subject to continuous lane closures and subway shutdowns since then in order to get it back into shape. (That said, it's still in better condition than the Manhattan Bridge, which marks its 100th birthday a few years from now and has been enduring 20 years of reinforcing work due to the stress of having four different subway lines running across it without ever having the flexibility to adjust to the shifting weight.)
Posted by: John at December 14, 2003 10:16 AMOnly a few times in my life have I been as scared as on the bridges to Manhattan. Nothing my children have ever done has bothered me except my son, who rollerblades to work across the Tri-Borough.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at December 14, 2003 02:50 PM