The Manhattan Bridge from the Brooklyn Bridge, taken last spring

I have kind of a soft spot for the Manhattan Bridge. I think of it as my bridge, because it’s the one I cross most often, either on the subway or by car, it’s the most direct route from Manhattan to my neighborhood in Brooklyn.

The Bowery Boys have a photo taken 100 years ago showing the bridge-in-progress. Neat, huh?

Some delicious trivia:

+ The bridge is 6,855 feet long. (That’s 1.3 miles.)
+ The bridge took 8 years to build.
+ There is no toll.
+ The somewhat ostentatious Manhattan Bridge Plaza on the Manhattan side (the entrance to the bridge on Canal Street near 3rd Ave) was completed in 1916, and it’s kind of a monument to classical architecture. And it is ridiculous, though probably not more so than other iconic New York arches such as the Washington Square Arch and the Grand Army Plaza Arch.
+ Some of the cabling was designed by a gent named Moisseiff, who went on to design the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, and we all know how that went.
+ The subway tracks on the Brooklyn side are the same as they were when subway service began over the bridge in 1915. Today, the B, the D, and the Q run over the bridge. (When I moved to New York, there was no service over the bridge, so it’s pretty cool that there is now, mostly because it makes the trip between Brooklyn and Manhattan on the Q super speedy!)

Here are some links:

Wikipedia
Forgotten New York
My Brooklyn Bridge photos, which include a bunch more of the Manhattan Bridge.

On this day in 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge opened. There are festivities related all weekend.

I actually walked across it myself a couple of weeks ago. You can see my photos here.

See also: Gothamist, The Bower Boys, and some documentaries: Ken Burns, and there’s also an episode of Modern Marvels. These are both available on iTunes. The Ken Burns documentary is a little more thorough and artistic.