Foto's

Hi everybody. Back to my "NY Bridges" theme, I would like to dedicate my next posts to the memory of OTHMAR HERMAN AMMANN (March 26, 1879 - September 22, 1965).
You know my "technique" already: taking pictures while driving. The same here, I was on Triborough Bridge, heading East from Manhattan to Queens.

Eleven major bridges unite New York City together and with the rest of the US. One engineer was responsible for more than half of them, yet hardly anyone knows his name.
Othmar Ammann came to America as a graduate of Swiss engineering schools and learned bridge building from the reigning bridge engineer Gustav Lindenthal. Ammann worked on the Hell Gate Bridge, then went on to build George Washington Bridge, Bayonne, Triborough, Bronx-Whitestone, Throgs Neck and Verrazano Narrows.
All that commemorates his accomplishments is a modest bust in a bus terminal at the east end of the George Washington Bridge. Ammann cared little about honorifics. For him, the fact that his bridges were all built on time and within budget was honor enough. (www.nyc-architecture.com).

The Hell Gate Bridge (originally the New York Connecting Railroad Bridge) is a 310 m steel arch railroad bridge that goes from Astoria in Queens to Ward's Island and onto the Bronx, over a portion of the East River known as Hell Gate.
It was completed in September 1916. Construction was overseen by Gustav Lindenthal. As Lindenthal protégé, Ammann worked on the Hell Gate Railroad Bridge, an arch bridge of unprecedented strength and beauty. Lindenthal had plans for an enormous rail bridge across the Hudson River, but they were rejected as too expensive. Ammann proposed a lighter, less expensive span for automobiles and trucks.
Ammann explained the significance that his mentor placed on the visual appearance of his bridge: „Mr. Lindenthal conceived the bridge as a monumental portal for the steamers that enter New York Harbor from Long Island Sound. He also realized that this bridge, forming a conspicuous object that can be seen from both shores of the river and from almost every elevated point of the city, and will be observed daily by thousands of passengers, should be an impressive structure. The arch, flanked by massive masonry towers, was most favorably adapted to that purpose”.

In 1996, the bridge received a facelift, including its first comprehensive paint job in 80 years. It was painted "Hell Gate Red" - a dark, natural red. Built to carry a total of 4 tracks, two each for passenger and freight, the bridge now carries 3 tracks, the fourth (freight) track being abandoned in the mid-1970s.
Hell Gate Bridge:
- was the world's longest steel arch bridge until the Bayonne Bridge was opened in 1932;
- was engineered so precisely that when the last section of the main span was lifted into place, the final adjustment needed to join everything together was half an inch;
- is prominently featured in the 1973 film Serpico;
- was the inspiration for the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Sydney, Australia;
- would be the last New York City bridge to collapse if humans disappeared, taking a least a millennium to do so, according to the February 2005 issue of Discover magazine. Most other bridges would fall in about 300 years.