Misplaced Pages

#272727

165-449: Inspired by Parks Commissioner Robert Moses ’s desire to provide a World War II monument to each borough, this monument was created. It is a granite and limestone 24-foot-tall (7.3 m) memorial designed by Stuart Constable, Gilmore D. Clarke, and W. Earle Andrews, who worked in concert with the architectural firm of Eggers and Higgins . The two larger-than-life sized high relief figures by sculptor Charles Keck (1875–1951) are located on

330-726: A $ 5 million expenditure for the Triborough project, and in July 1930, a $ 5 million bond issue to fund the Triborough Bridge's construction was passed. Plans for an expressway to connect to the bridge's Queens end were also filed in July 1930. This later became the Brooklyn Queens Expressway , which was connected to the bridge via the Grand Central Parkway . There were also proposals for an expressway to connect to

495-452: A Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University in 1914, Moses became attracted to New York City reform politics. At the start a committed idealist , Moses developed several plans to rid New York of patronage hiring practices, including authoring a 1919 proposal to reorganize the New York state government, which was ultimately not adopted but drew the attention of Belle Moskowitz ,

660-510: A bill that provided for the relocation of the Queens span's Wards Island end, 1,100 feet (340 m) to the west, thereby preserving hospital buildings from demolition. The bridge was ultimately planned to cost $ 24 million and was planned to start construction in August 1929. By July, the groundbreaking was scheduled for September. The preliminary Triborough Bridge proposal comprised four bridges:

825-560: A bridge approach in the Bronx, and he promised to resume construction of the bridge. That May, the TBA asked the RFC for a $ 35 million loan to pay for the bridge. The RFC ultimately agreed in August to grant $ 44.2 million, to be composed of a loan of $ 37 million, as well as a $ 7.2 million subsidy. However, the loan would only be given under a condition that 18,000 workers be hired first, so

990-560: A bridge so much as a traffic machine, the largest ever built". The American Society of Civil Engineers designated the Triborough Bridge Project as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1986. The bridge is owned and operated by MTA Bridges and Tunnels (formally the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, or TBTA), an affiliate of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority . The RFK Bridge

1155-738: A bridge. He also clashed with the chief engineer of the project, Ole Singstad , who preferred a tunnel instead of a bridge. Only a lack of a key federal approval thwarted the bridge project. President Roosevelt ordered the War Department to assert that bombing a bridge in that location would block East River access to the Brooklyn Navy Yard upstream. Thwarted, Moses dismantled the New York Aquarium on Castle Clinton and moved it to Coney Island in Brooklyn, where it grew much bigger. This

1320-590: A concrete retaining wall. In 2017, the MTA started collecting all tolls electronically at the approaches to each bridge, and the tollbooths were removed from the toll plazas on the RFK Bridge and all other MTA Bridges and Tunnels crossings. The Robert Moses Administration Building, a two-story Art Deco structure designed by Embury, served as the headquarters of the TBTA (now the MTA's Bridges and Tunnels division). The building

1485-614: A friend and trusted advisor to Governor Al Smith . When the state Secretary of State's position became appointive rather than elective, Smith named Moses. He served from 1927 to 1929. Moses rose to power with Smith, who was elected as governor in 1918, and then again in 1922. With Smith's support, Moses set in motion a sweeping consolidation of the New York State government. During that period Moses began his first foray into large-scale public work initiatives, while drawing on Smith's political power to enact legislation. This helped create

1650-585: A long period and she may have changed the will of her own accord, and implies that Robert's subsequent treatment of Paul may have been legally justifiable but was morally questionable. During the last years of his life, Moses concentrated on his lifelong love of swimming and was an active member of the Colonie Hill Health Club. Moses died of heart disease on July 29, 1981, at the age of 92 at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip, New York . Moses

1815-553: A member of the Temporary Long Island Railroad Commission, installed after the Richmond Hill train crash on November 22, 1950, that claimed 79 lives. The Commission recommended the state purchase and operation by non-profit public authority of the railway service. Moses had influence outside the New York area as well. Public officials in many smaller American cities hired him to design freeway networks in

SECTION 10

#1732895688273

1980-463: A minimum 55-yard (50 m) length, underwater lighting, heating, filtration, and low-cost construction materials. To fit the requirement for cheap materials, each building would be built using elements of the Streamline Moderne and Classical architectural styles. The buildings would also be near "comfort stations", additional playgrounds, and spruced-up landscapes. Construction for some of

2145-511: A new executive budget system, and the four-year term limit for the governorship. During the Depression , Moses, along with Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia , was especially interested in creating new pools and other bathing facilities, such as those in Jacob Riis Park , Jones Beach , and Orchard Beach . He devised a list of 23 pools around the city. The pools would be built using funds from

2310-409: A nine-person committee, appointed by Lehman and chaired by Moses, applied to the RFC for a $ 150 million loan for projects in New York state, including the Triborough Bridge. However, although the RFC favored a loan for the Triborough project, the new mayor, John P. O'Brien , banned the RFC from giving loans to the city. Instead, O'Brien wanted to create a bridge authority to sell bonds to pay for

2475-529: A provision that the authority could sell up to $ 35 million in bonds and fund the remainder of construction through bridge tolls. George Gordon Battle, a Tammany Hall attorney, was appointed as chairman of the new authority, and three commissioners were appointed. Shortly after the TBA bill was signed, the War Department extended its deadline for the Triborough Bridge's completion by three years, to April 28, 1936. Lehman also signed bills to clear land for

2640-460: A residential complex specifically designed for these veterans, and purportedly trying to make swimming pool water cold in order to drive away potential African American residents in white neighborhoods. People had come to see Moses as a bully who disregarded public input, but until the publication of Caro's book, they had not known many details of his private life—for instance, that his older brother Paul had spent much of his life in poverty. Moses

2805-426: A role in the merged authority, Moses declined to challenge the merger. On March 1, 1968, the TBTA was folded into the MTA and Moses gave up his post as chairman of the TBTA. He eventually became a consultant to the MTA, but its new chairman and the governor froze him out—the promised role did not materialize, and for all practical purposes Moses was out of power. Moses had thought he had convinced Nelson Rockefeller of

2970-409: A standalone facility at Tompkinsville Pool . Moses, along with architects Aymar Embury II and Gilmore David Clarke , created a common design for these proposed aquatic centers. Each location was to have distinct pools for diving, swimming, and wading; bleachers and viewing areas; and bathhouses with locker rooms that could be used as gymnasiums. The pools were to have several common features, such as

3135-673: A suspension span across the East River to Queens; a truss span across Bronx Kill to the Bronx; a fixed span across the Harlem River to Manhattan; and a steel arch viaduct across the no-longer-extant Little Hell Gate between Randalls and Wards Islands. In August 1929, plans for the bridge were submitted to the United States Department of War for approval to ensure that the proposed Tri-Borough Bridge would not block any maritime navigation routes. Railroad and shipping groups objected that

3300-459: A total of 9,176 wires in each cable. The wires are fastened together by "strand shoes", placed at regular intervals. At the Wards Island and Astoria ends of the suspension span, there are two anchorages that hold the main cables. The anchorages contain a combined 133,500 tons of concrete. There are also bents atop each anchorage, which conceal the ends of each main cable. The Harlem River span

3465-430: A tunnel connecting Brooklyn to Lower Manhattan . A 1941 publication from the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority claimed that the government had forced them to build a tunnel at "twice the cost, twice the operating fees, twice the difficulty to engineer, and half the traffic," although engineering studies did not support these conclusions, and a tunnel may have held many of the advantages Moses publicly tried to attach to

SECTION 20

#1732895688273

3630-545: A tunnel. LaGuardia and Lehman as usual had little money to spend, in part due to the Great Depression , while the federal government was running low on funds after recently spending $ 105 million ($ 1.8 billion in 2016) on the Queens-Midtown Tunnel and other City projects and refused to provide any additional funds to New York. Awash in funds from Triborough Bridge tolls, Moses deemed that money could only be spent on

3795-469: A year. The Authority was thus able to raise hundreds of millions of dollars by selling bonds, a method also used by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to fund large public construction projects. Toll revenues rose quickly as traffic on the bridges exceeded all projections. Rather than pay off the bonds, Moses used the revenue to build other toll projects, a cycle that would feed on itself. In

3960-495: Is 55 feet (17 m) above mean high water. The three spans of the RFK Bridge intersect at a grade-separated T-interchange on Randalls Island. The span to Manhattan intersects perpendicularly with the I-278 viaduct between the Bronx and Queens spans. Although I-278 is signed as a west-east highway, the orientation of I-278 on the bridge is closer to a north-south alignment, with the southbound roadway carrying westbound traffic, and

4125-457: Is a lift bridge that connects Manhattan with Randalls Island, designed by chief engineer Ammann. It carries six lanes of New York State Route 900G ( NY 900G ), an unsigned reference route , as well as two sidewalks, one on each side. The span connects to FDR Drive and Harlem River Drive , as well as the intersection of Second Avenue and East 125th Street , in East Harlem , Manhattan. At

4290-538: Is a truss bridge that connects the Bronx with Randalls Island. It carries eight lanes of I-278, as well as two sidewalks, one on each side. The span connects to Major Deegan Expressway ( I-87 ) and the Bruckner Expressway (I-278) in Mott Haven, Bronx . It originally connected to the intersection of East 134th Street and Cypress Avenue, a site now occupied by the interchange between I-87 and I-278. The truss span

4455-513: Is also a Robert Moses Playground in New York City. There are other signs of the surviving appreciation held for him by some circles of the public. A statue of Moses was erected next to the Village Hall in his long-time hometown, Babylon Village, New York . During his tenure as chief of the state park system, the state's inventory of parks grew to nearly 2,600,000 acres (1,100,000 ha). By

4620-633: Is blamed for having destroyed more than a score of neighborhoods by building 13 expressways across New York City and by building large urban renewal projects with little regard for the urban fabric or for human scale. Yet the author is more neutral in his central premise: the city would have developed much differently without Moses. Other U.S. cities were doing the same thing as New York in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s; Boston , San Francisco , and Seattle , for instance, each built highways straight through their downtown areas just as Moses wished to do in New York. The New York City architectural intelligentsia of

4785-432: Is closed to the public. The War Memorial was restored in 1977 and was intended to serve as a community facility for veterans’ groups and arts organizations. The building was actively used by committees of Brooklyn Community Board 2 , ceremonies by veterans’ groups, musical groups, theater groups, exercise classes and more. This stopped in the early 80s and only one organization is left in the building. The last active use of

4950-421: Is dedicated to the heroic men and women of the borough of Brooklyn who fought for liberty in the second world war 1941–1945 and especially to those who suffered and died may their sacrifice inspire future generations and lead to universal peace The memorial includes a wall in the main auditorium inscribed with the names of 11,000 Brooklynites who died in the war. The area is now used for Parks Department storage and

5115-530: Is made of four segments. The three primary spans traverse the East River to Queens; the Harlem River to Manhattan; and Bronx Kill to the Bronx, while the fourth is a T-shaped approach viaduct that leads to an interchange plaza between the three primary spans on Randalls Island. The Queens arm of the viaduct formerly crossed Little Hell Gate, a creek located between Randalls Island to the north and Wards Island to

Brooklyn War Memorial - Misplaced Pages Continue

5280-467: Is now SoHo . This plan and the Mid-Manhattan Expressway both failed politically. One of his most vocal critics during this time was the urban activist Jane Jacobs , whose book The Death and Life of Great American Cities was instrumental in turning opinion against Moses's plans; the city government rejected the expressway in 1964. Moses's power was further eroded by his association with

5445-464: Is supported by a set of three octagonal columns. The viaduct is mostly eight lanes wide, except at the former locations of the toll plazas, where it widens. The viaduct once traversed Little Hell Gate, a small creek that formerly separated Randalls Island to the north and Wards Island to the south; the waterway has since been filled in. The viaduct rose 62 feet (19 m) above the mean high water of Little Hell Gate. Edward A. Byrne , chief engineer of

5610-497: Is suspended by a total of 96 wire ropes, which are wrapped around pulleys with 15-foot (4.6 m) diameters. These pulleys, in turn, are powered by four motors that can operate at 200 horsepower (149 kW). NY 900G is officially maintained as a north–south route, despite its largely east-west progression. The entire route is in the New York City borough of Manhattan . All exits are unnumbered. The Bronx Kill span

5775-475: The 1964 New York World's Fair . His projections for attendance of 70 million people for this event proved wildly optimistic, and generous contracts for fair executives and contractors made matters worse economically. Moses's repeated and forceful public denials of the fair's considerable financial difficulties in the face of evidence to the contrary eventually provoked press and governmental investigations, which found accounting irregularities. In his organization of

5940-738: The East River Drive (now the FDR Drive), and Harlem River Drive in Manhattan; and Whitlock Avenue and Eastern Boulevard (now Bruckner Expressway ) in the Bronx. The first of those roads, the Grand Central Parkway, was planned to start construction in early 1934. That July, the Department of War approved the Bronx Kill span as a fixed truss span, since the Bronx Kill was not a navigable waterway;

6105-583: The Ground Zero site of the former World Trade Center or to the delays and technical problems surrounding the Second Avenue Subway and Boston's Big Dig project. Robert F. Kennedy Bridge The Robert F. Kennedy Bridge ( RFK Bridge ; also known by its previous name, the Triborough Bridge ) is a complex of bridges and elevated expressway viaducts in New York City . The bridges link

6270-534: The Long Island State Park Commission . By working closely with New York governor Al Smith early in his career, he became expert in writing laws and navigating and manipulating the workings of state government. He created and led numerous semi-autonomous public authorities , through which he controlled millions of dollars in revenue and directly issued bonds to fund new ventures with little outside input or oversight. Moses's projects transformed

6435-547: The Major Deegan Expressway ( Interstate 87 ) in the Bronx, and the Grand Central Parkway (I-278) and Astoria Boulevard in Queens. The three primary bridges of the RFK Bridge complex are: These three bridges are connected by an elevated highway viaduct across Randalls and Wards Islands and 14 miles (23 km) of support roads. The viaduct includes a smaller span across the former site of Little Hell Gate , which separated Randalls and Wards Islands. Also part of

6600-706: The New York Mets , who played at Shea until 2008, when the stadium was demolished and replaced with Citi Field . The NFL's New York Jets also played its home games at Shea from 1964 until 1983, after which the team moved its home games to the Meadowlands Sports Complex in New Jersey. Moses's reputation began to fade during the 1960s. Around this time, Moses's political acumen began to fail him, as he unwisely picked several controversial political battles he could not possibly win. For example, his campaign against

6765-684: The New York metropolitan area during the early to mid-20th century. Moses is regarded as one of the most powerful and influential people in the history of New York City and New York State . The grand scale of his infrastructure projects and his philosophy of urban development influenced a generation of engineers, architects, and urban planners across the United States. Never elected to any office, Moses held various positions throughout his more-than-40-year career. He held as many as 12 titles at once, including New York City Parks Commissioner and chairman of

Brooklyn War Memorial - Misplaced Pages Continue

6930-708: The Public Works Administration (PWA)'s resident engineer for the project. The East River span, a suspension bridge across the Hell Gate of the East River, connects Queens with Wards Island. It carries eight lanes of Interstate 278 , four in each direction, as well as a sidewalk on the northeastern side. The span connects to Grand Central Parkway , and indirectly to the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway (I-278), in Astoria, Queens . Originally it connected to

7095-466: The Robert F. Kennedy Bridge ) opened in 1936, connecting the Bronx , Manhattan , and Queens via three separate spans. Language in its Authority's bond contracts and multi-year Commissioner appointments made it largely impervious to pressure from mayors and governors. While New York City and New York State were perpetually strapped for money, the bridge's toll revenues amounted to tens of millions of dollars

7260-846: The Robert Moses Causeway on Long Island, and the Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant in Lewiston, New York . The Niagara Scenic Parkway in Niagara Falls, New York was originally named the Robert Moses State Parkway in his honor; its name was changed in 2016. The Moses-Saunders Power Dam in Massena, New York also bears his name. Moses also has a school named after him in North Babylon, New York on Long Island; there

7425-550: The Seaview Hospital on Staten Island , which would house the hospital facilities displaced by the Triborough Bridge. Homes in Astoria and wooden docks were also demolished to make way for the bridge. Moses continued to advocate for new roads and parkways to connect with the bridge as part of an interconnected parkway system. The complex of roads included the Grand Central Parkway and Astoria Boulevard in Queens; 125th Street ,

7590-623: The Works Progress Administration (WPA), a federal agency created as part of the New Deal to combat the Depression's negative effects. Eleven of these pools were to be designed concurrently and open in 1936. These comprised ten pools at Astoria Park , Betsy Head Park , Crotona Park , Hamilton Fish Park , Highbridge Park , Thomas Jefferson Park , McCarren Park , Red Hook Park , Jackie Robinson Park , and Sunset Park , as well as

7755-511: The boroughs of Manhattan , Queens , and the Bronx . The viaducts cross Randalls and Wards Islands , previously two islands and now joined by landfill. The RFK Bridge, a toll bridge , carries Interstate 278 (I-278) as well as the unsigned highway New York State Route 900G. It connects with the FDR Drive and the Harlem River Drive in Manhattan, the Bruckner Expressway (I-278) and

7920-433: The federal government found itself with millions of New Deal dollars to spend, yet states and cities had few projects ready. Moses was one of the few local officials who had projects shovel ready . For that reason, New York City was able to obtain significant Works Progress Administration (WPA), Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and other Depression-era funding. One of his most influential and longest-lasting positions

8085-456: The subway system . Moses opposed this idea and fought to prevent it. Lindsay then removed Moses from his post as the city's chief advocate for federal highway money in Washington. The legislature's vote to fold the TBTA into the newly created Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) could have led to a lawsuit by the TBTA bondholders. Since the bond contracts were written into state law, it

8250-408: The "development scheme" mentality cultivated by Moses even though it was the impoverished Pennsylvania Railroad that was actually responsible for the demolition. This casual destruction of one of New York's greatest architectural landmarks helped prompt many city residents to turn against Moses's plans to build a Lower Manhattan Expressway , which would have gone through Greenwich Village and what

8415-552: The 11 pools began in October 1934. By mid-1936, ten of the eleven WPA-funded pools were completed and were being opened at a rate of one per week. Combined, the facilities could accommodate 66,000 swimmers. The eleven WPA pools were considered for New York City landmark status in 1990. Ten of the pools were designated as New York City landmarks in 2007 and 2008. Moses allegedly fought to keep African American swimmers out of his pools and beaches. One subordinate remembers Moses saying

SECTION 50

#1732895688273

8580-673: The 1930s to the 1960s, Robert Moses was responsible for the construction of the Triborough , Marine Parkway , Throgs Neck , Bronx-Whitestone , Henry Hudson , and Verrazzano-Narrows Bridges . His other projects included the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and Staten Island Expressway (together constituting most of Interstate 278 ); the Cross-Bronx Expressway ; many New York State parkways ; and other highways. Federal interest had shifted from parkway to freeway systems, and

8745-747: The 1930s to well into the 1960s because the parkways and expressways that were built replaced, at least to some extent, the planned subway lines. The 1968 Program for Action (which was never completed) was hoped to counter that. Other critics charge that he precluded the use of public transit, which would have allowed non-car-owners to enjoy the elaborate recreation facilities he built. Caro's The Power Broker also accused Moses of building low bridges across his parkways to make them inaccessible to public transit buses, thereby restricting "the use of state parks by poor and lower-middle-class families" who did not own cars. Caro also wrote that Moses attempted to discourage Black people in particular from visiting Jones Beach,

8910-408: The 1940s and 1950s, who largely believed in such proponents of the automobile as Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe , had supported Moses. Many other cities, like Newark , Chicago , and St. Louis , also built massive, unattractive public housing projects. Caro also points out that Moses demonstrated racist tendencies . These allegedly included opposing black World War II veterans to move into

9075-551: The 1940s and early 1950s. For example, Portland, Oregon hired Moses in 1943; his plan included a loop around the city center , with spurs running through neighborhoods. Of this plan, only I-405 , its links with I-5 , and the Fremont Bridge were built. Moses himself did not know how to drive an automobile. Moses's highways in the first half of the 20th century were parkways—curving, landscaped "ribbon parks" that were intended to be pleasures to travel on, as well as "lungs for

9240-473: The Bronx Kills, East River, and Little Hell Gate spans in late April 1930, after construction was already underway on the Queens suspension span across the East River. A week later, the War Department also approved the Harlem River span, with another amendment: the span was now a movable lift bridge, which could be raised to allow maritime traffic to pass. Shortly afterward, a special mayoral committee sanctioned

9405-526: The Bronx approach was delayed after the city's corporation council found that the approach could not be built using federal funds. By October 1935, the Queens approach and the Randalls and Wards Islands viaduct was nearly complete. Vertical suspender cables had been hung from the main cables of the Queens suspension span, and the steel slabs to support the span's roadway deck were being erected. The concrete piers supporting Bronx span were still being constructed, and

9570-460: The Bronx due to low demand. Connolly also said that a bridge between Queens and Manhattan needed to be built further downstream, closer to the Queensboro Bridge , which at the time was the only bridge between the two boroughs. The Port of New York Authority included the proposed Tri-Borough Bridge in a report to the New York state legislature in 1921. The following year, the planned bridge

9735-576: The Bronx end of the bridge along Southern Boulevard . Robert Moses , the Long Island state parks commissioner, wanted to expand Grand Central Parkway from its western terminus at the time, Union Turnpike in Kew Gardens, Queens , northwest to the proposed bridge. The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway proposal, which would create a highway from the Queens end of the bridge to Queens Boulevard in Woodside, Queens ,

9900-621: The Bronx voted for the allocation of the funds, while the presidents of Queens and Staten Island agreed with Hylan, who preferred the construction of the new subway system instead of the Tri-Borough Bridge. The bridge allocation was ultimately not approved. Another attempt at obtaining funds was declined in 1924, although there was a possibility that the bridge could be built based on assessment plans that were being procured. The Tri-Borough Bridge project finally received funding in June 1925, when

10065-573: The Bronx, and an as-yet-undetermined location in Queens. It would parallel the Hell Gate Bridge , a railroad bridge connecting Queens and the Bronx via Randalls and Wards Islands. Plans for the Tri-Borough Bridge were bolstered by the 1919 closure of a ferry between Yorkville in Manhattan and Astoria in Queens. A bill to construct the bridge was proposed in the New York State Legislature in 1920. Gustav Lindenthal , who had designed

SECTION 60

#1732895688273

10230-434: The East River suspension span. Less than a week afterward, the first temporary wires were strung between the two towers of the suspension span. The wires in the main cables were laid by machines that traveled along these temporary wires. A contract for the Harlem River lift span's steel superstructure was awarded that May, followed by a contract for the Bronx Kill truss span's structure the following month. The spinning of

10395-514: The Hell Gate Bridge, criticized the Tri-Borough plan as "uncalled for", as the new Tri-Borough Bridge would parallel the existing Hell Gate Bridge. He stated that the Hell Gate Bridge could be retrofitted with an upper deck for vehicular and pedestrian use. Queens borough president Maurice K. Connolly also opposed the bridge, arguing that there was no need to construct a span between Queens and

10560-435: The MTA's headquarters at 2 Broadway in the 1980s. The building was renamed after Moses in 1989. The interchange plaza connects with the over-water spans via a three-legged concrete viaduct that has a total length of more than 2.5 miles (4.0 km). The segments of the viaduct rest atop steel girders , which in turn are placed perpendicularly between concrete piers spaced 60 to 140 feet (18 to 43 m) apart. Each pier

10725-610: The New York City Department of Plant and Structures, first announced plans for connecting Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx in 1916. The next year, the Harlem Boards of Trade and Commerce and the Harlem Luncheon Association announced their support for such a bridge, which was proposed to cost $ 10 million. The "Tri-Borough Bridge", as it was called, would connect 125th Street in Manhattan, St. Ann's Avenue in

10890-442: The New York area and revolutionized the way cities in the U.S. were designed and built. As Long Island State Park Commissioner, Moses oversaw the construction of Jones Beach State Park , the most-visited public beach in the United States, and was the primary architect of the New York State Parkway System . As head of the Triborough Bridge Authority , Moses had near-complete control over bridges and tunnels in New York City as well as

11055-429: The New York state legislature voted to approve the Tri-Borough Bridge as well as a prison on Rikers Island before adjourning for the fiscal year. The same month, New York state governor Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the bill to approve the relocation of about 700 beds in Wards Island's mental hospital, which were in the way of the proposed bridge's suspension span to Queens. The New York state legislature later approved

11220-401: The Queens side was 15% completed. Work on drainage dikes, as well as contracts for bridge approach piers, were also progressing. A report the next month indicated that the overall project was 6% completed, and that another $ 2.45 million in contracts was planned to be awarded over the following year. In October, contracts for constructing the bridge piers were advertised. By December 1931,

11385-400: The RFC grant until the existing funds could be accounted for. Ickes also warned that he would cancel the RFC grant if the political disputes regarding the TBA were not cleared up. After O'Leary was removed, La Guardia appointed Moses to fill O'Leary's position, and Ickes also promised to give $ 1.5 million toward the bridge's construction, which the city received that March. Moses became

11550-431: The Soviet Union, were all BIE members and they declined to participate, instead reserving their efforts for Expo 67 in Montreal . After the World's Fair debacle, New York City mayor John Lindsay , along with Governor Nelson Rockefeller , sought to direct toll revenues from the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority 's (TBTA) bridges and tunnels to cover deficits in the city's then financially ailing agencies, including

11715-435: The TBA unless Moses resigned the post of either TBA chairman or New York City Parks Commissioner . This came as a result of Moses's criticism that New Deal funding programs like the PWA were too slow to disburse funds. Moses refused to resign in spite of Ickes's persistence, and Ickes threatened to withhold salaries for TBA workers as well. Though La Guardia was supportive of Moses, even petitioning Roosevelt for help, he

11880-792: The Taconic State Park Commission, who favored the prompt construction of a parkway through the Hudson Valley . Moses succeeded in diverting funds to his Long Island parkway projects (the Northern State Parkway , the Southern State Parkway and the Wantagh State Parkway ), although the Taconic State Parkway was later completed as well. Moses helped build Long Island's Meadowbrook State Parkway . It

12045-452: The Tri-Borough plan, as did several merchants' associations, construction was delayed for a year because of a lack of funds. The Board of Estimate did approve $ 150,000 in May 1927 for preliminary borings and soundings. That September, a group of entrepreneurs proposed to fund the bridge privately. Under this plan, the bridge would be set up as a toll bridge , and ownership would be transferred to

12210-442: The Triborough Bridge [...] where would we draw the line?" Governor Al Smith agreed, saying that such requests were unnecessary because the bridge could pay for itself. Harvey continued to push for federal funding for the Triborough Bridge, prioritizing its completion over other projects such as the development of Jamaica Bay in southern Queens. Civic groups also advocated for the city to apply for RFC funding. In February 1933,

12375-435: The anti-development sentiment was now insurmountable and in 1973 Rockefeller canceled plans for the bridge. Moses's image suffered a further blow in 1974 with the publication of The Power Broker , a Pulitzer Prize –winning biography by Robert A. Caro . Caro's 1,200-page opus (edited down from 2,000 or so pages) showed Moses generally in a negative light; essayist Phillip Lopate writes that "Moses's satanic reputation with

12540-453: The bridge is 700 feet (213 m). The towers are 210 feet (64 m) above mean high water. Each of the lift towers is supported by two clusters of four columns, which supports the bridge deck. A curved truss at the top of each pair of column clusters forms an arch directly underneath the deck. The lift span is 55 feet (17 m) above mean high water in the "closed" position, but can be raised to 135 feet (41 m). The movable section

12705-691: The bridge option. This had not been the first time Moses pressed for a bridge over a tunnel. He had tried to upstage the Tunnel Authority when the Queens-Midtown Tunnel was being planned. He had raised the same arguments, which failed due to their lack of political support. Moses's power increased after World War II after Mayor LaGuardia retired and a series of successors consented to almost all of his proposals. Named city "construction coordinator" in 1946 by Mayor William O'Dwyer , Moses became New York City's de facto representative in Washington . Moses

12870-430: The bridge to reach a level of traffic where all sixteen lanes were needed. In April, a new plan was approved that would reduce the bridge's cost from $ 51 million to $ 42 million. Chief engineer Ammann had decided to collapse the original design's two-deck roadway into one, requiring lighter towers and lighter piers. The steel company constructing the towers challenged the TBA's decision in an appellate court, but

13035-490: The bridge was opposed by the Regional Plan Association , historical preservationists, Wall Street financial interests, property owners, various high society people, construction unions , the Manhattan borough president , Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia , and governor Herbert H. Lehman . Despite this, Moses favored a bridge, which could both carry more automobile traffic and serve as a higher visibility monument than

13200-410: The bridge's main cables run. These are topped by 30-foot (9.1 m) decorative lanterns with red aircraft warning lights . The span is supported by two main cables, which suspend the deck and are held up by the suspension towers. Each cable is 20 inches (51 cm) in diameter and contains 10,800 miles (17,400 km) of individual wires. Each main cable is composed of 37 strands of 248 wires, for

13365-556: The builder who can remove ghettos without moving people as I hail the chef who can make omelets without breaking eggs." Additionally, there were allegations that Moses selectively chose locations for recreational facilities based on the racial compositions of a neighborhood, such as when he selected sites for eleven pools that opened in 1936. According to one author, Moses purposely placed some pools in neighborhoods with mainly white populations to deter African Americans from using them, and other pools intended for African Americans, such as

13530-419: The building may have been by Brooklyn College for art exhibits. In May 2006, however, the organization was evicted. In the 1980s, the city began using the granite and limestone building basement for storage. Access is restricted. To view the plaques and list of names inside, relatives of World War II vets must make appointments. The condition of the building is poor. The New York City Parks Department estimates

13695-520: The building needs $ 20 million for staffing and renovations, including a wheelchair-accessible entrance and air conditioning. In 1987, the chairman of Community Board 2 signed an agreement with the Parks Department allocating $ 540,000 for an elevator and other improvements to the memorial. This work was never done. Robert Moses Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in

13860-477: The centerpiece of the Long Island state park system, by such measures as making it difficult for Black groups to get permits to park buses, and assigning Black lifeguards to "distant, less developed beaches". While the exclusion of commercial vehicles and the use of low bridges where appropriate were standard on earlier parkways, where they had been instituted for aesthetic reasons, Moses appears to have made greater use of low bridges, which his aide Sidney Shapiro said

14025-503: The chairman of the TBA in April 1934, after a series of interim chairmen had held the post. Moses, who also had positions in the state and city governments, sought to expedite the project, awarding a contract in May for the construction of an approach highway to the Queens span. A contract to clear land in the bridge's right-of-way was awarded in April 1934, and work began that month. Over 300 buildings had to be destroyed. Families living in

14190-600: The city and removed the Zoning Commissioner from power in the process. Moses was also empowered as the sole authority to negotiate in Washington for New York City projects. By 1959, he had overseen construction of 28,000 apartment units on hundreds of acres of land. In clearing the land for high-rises in accordance with the towers in the park concept, which at that time was seen as innovative and beneficial by leaving more grassy areas between high-rises, Moses sometimes destroyed almost as many housing units as he built. From

14355-474: The city appropriated $ 50,000 for surveys, test borings and structural plans. Work started on a tentative design for the bridge. By December 1926, the $ 50,000 allotment had been spent on bores. Around the same time, the proposal to convert the Hell Gate Bridge resurfaced. Albert Goldman, the Commissioner of Plant and Structures, had finished a tentative report for the Tri-Borough Bridge by that time; however, it

14520-494: The city once the bridge was paid for. In August 1928, Mayor Jimmy Walker received a similar proposal from the Long Island Board of Commerce to build the Tri-Borough Bridge using $ 32 million of private capital. The Queens Chamber of Commerce also favored setting up tolls on the bridge to pay for its construction. Yet another plan called for financing the bridge using proceeds from a bond issue, which would also pay for

14685-537: The city". However, post–World War II economic expansion , and notion of the automotive city , led to the creation of freeways , most notably in the form of the vast, federally funded Interstate Highway network . When the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers , Walter O'Malley , sought to replace the outdated and dilapidated Ebbets Field , he proposed building a new stadium near the Long Island Rail Road on

14850-549: The city's Board of Estimate voted to hire 18,000 workers to work on the Triborough project. The funds for the Triborough Bridge, as well as for the Lincoln Tunnel from Manhattan to New Jersey , were ready by the beginning of September. The city purchased land in the path of the Triborough Bridge in September 1933, and construction on the Triborough Bridge resumed that November. By January 1934, contracts were being prepared for

15015-618: The company originally contracted to build the piers, the Albert A. Volk Company, refused to carry out the contract. In early December, the contract for the piers was reassigned to the McMullen Company. Meanwhile, the Board was condemning the land in the path of the bridge's approaches. However, this process was also postponed because homeowners wanted to sell their property to the city at exceedingly high prices. The War Department gave its approval to

15180-416: The completion of the suspension span and the construction of the other three spans; one of these contracts included the construction of the bridge's piers. That February, the TBA contemplated condensing the Queens span's 16-lane, double-deck roadway into an 8-lane, single deck road, as well as simplify the suspension towers' designs, to save $ 5 million. According to the agency, it would take 40 years for

15345-443: The complex is a grade-separated T-interchange on Randalls Island, which sorted out traffic in a way that ensured that drivers paid a toll at only one bank of tollbooths. The tollbooths have since been removed, and all tolls are collected electronically at the approaches to each bridge. The bridge complex was designed by Allston Dana with the collaboration of Othmar Ammann and architect Aymar Embury II , and has been called "not

15510-531: The concrete, a forest's worth of trees on the Pacific Coast was cut down. Robert Caro , the author of a biography on Long Island State Parks commissioner and Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority chairman Robert Moses , wrote about the project: Triborough was not a bridge so much as a traffic machine, the largest ever built. The amount of human energy expended in its construction gives some idea of its immensity: more than five thousand men would be working at

15675-459: The construction of both the Triborough Bridge and Queens-Midtown Tunnel. Queens borough president Harvey also went to the RFC to ask for funding for the bridge. Soon after, the RFC moved to prepare the loan for the Triborough Bridge project. However, when Mayor Walker resigned suddenly in September 1932, his successor Joseph V. McKee refused to seek RFC or other federal aid for the two projects, stating, "If we go to Washington for funds to complete

15840-540: The construction of the Triborough Bridge as well as for the Queens-Midtown Tunnel. Robert Moses was also pushing the state legislature to create an authority to fund, build, and operate the Triborough Bridge. A bill to create the Triborough Bridge Authority (TBA) passed quickly through both houses of the state legislature, and was signed by Governor Herbert H. Lehman that April. The bill included

16005-504: The contract, the PWA approved of it anyway, because the German steel contract was cheaper than any of the bids presented by American producers. Moses also approved of the decision because it would save money, and the TBA said that federal regulations had forced the agency to turn to a German manufacturer. La Guardia blocked the deal, writing that "the only commodity we can get from Hitlerland [Germany]

16170-459: The corner of Atlantic Avenue and Flatbush Avenue (next to the present-day Barclays Center , home of the NBA 's Brooklyn Nets ). O'Malley urged Moses to help him secure the property through eminent domain, but Moses refused, having already decided to build a parking garage on the site. Moreover, O'Malley's proposal — to have the city acquire the property for several times as much as he had originally said he

16335-405: The court ruled in favor of the TBA. By January 1934, the TBA was in turmoil: one of the TBA's commissioners had resigned, and New York City Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia was trying another TBA commissioner, John Stratton O'Leary, for corruption. The TBA's general counsel also resigned. As a result, Public Works Administration (PWA) administrator Harold L. Ickes refused to distribute more of

16500-539: The day. O'Malley vehemently opposed that plan, citing the team's Brooklyn identity. Moses refused to budge and, after the 1957 season, the Dodgers left for Los Angeles and the New York Giants left for San Francisco . Moses was later able to build the 55,000-seat multi-purpose Shea Stadium on the site. Construction ran from October 1961 to its delayed completion in April 1964. The stadium attracted an expansion franchise,

16665-487: The development of Jones Beach State Park . Displaying a strong command of law as well as matters of engineering , Moses became known for his skill in drafting legislation, and was called "the best bill drafter in Albany ". At a time when the public was accustomed to Tammany Hall corruption and incompetence, Moses was seen as a savior of government. Shortly after President Franklin D. Roosevelt's inauguration in 1933,

16830-490: The dispute between Moses and Ickes, the TBA announced its intent to open bids for bridge steelwork. By March, the suspension towers for the East River span to Queens were nearing completion, and support piers on Randalls and Wards Islands had progressed substantially. After the Moses–Ickes dispute had subsided, the TBA started advertising for bids to build the steel roadways of the Randalls and Wards Islands viaducts, as well as

16995-757: The estates of the rich, but told owners of the family farms who lost land that it was an unbiased decision based on "engineering considerations." The book also charged that Moses libeled officials who opposed him, attempting to have them removed from office by calling them communists during the Red Scare . The biography further notes that Moses fought against schools and other public needs in favor of his preference for parks. Moses's critics charge that he preferred automobiles over people. They point out that he displaced hundreds of thousands of residents in New York City and destroyed traditional neighborhoods by building multiple expressways through them. The projects contributed to

17160-552: The expressway's route. The newly elected borough president of Queens, George U. Harvey , also endorsed the bridge, as did Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce leader George Vincent McLaughlin . Trade groups petitioned Mayor Walker to take up the bridge's construction. By the end of the month, Walker acquiesced, and he had included both the Tri-Borough Bridge and a tunnel under the Narrows in his 10-year traffic program. The preliminary borings were completed by late February 1929. The results of

17325-460: The fair, Moses's reputation was now undermined by the same personal character traits that had worked in his favor in the past: disdain for the opinions of others and high-handed attempts to get his way in moments of conflict by turning to the press. The fact that the fair was not sanctioned by the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE), the worldwide body supervising such events, would be devastating to

17490-537: The first nine years of his life living at 83 Dwight Street in New Haven, two blocks from Yale University . In 1897, the Moses family moved to New York City, where they lived on East 46th Street off Fifth Avenue. Moses's father was a successful department store owner and real estate speculator in New Haven. In order for the family to move to New York City, he sold his real estate holdings and store, then retired. Moses's mother

17655-565: The free Shakespeare in the Park program received much negative publicity, and his effort to destroy a shaded playground in Central Park to make way for a parking lot for the expensive Tavern-on-the-Green restaurant earned him many enemies among the middle-class voters of the Upper West Side . The opposition reached a climax over the demolition of Pennsylvania Station , which many attributed to

17820-424: The initial funding approved by the New York State legislature, knowing the legislature would eventually have to fund the full project to avoid appearing to have provided ineffective oversight ( fait accompli ). He was also characterized as using his political power to benefit cronies, including a case in which he secretly shifted the planned route of the Northern State Parkway large distances to avoid impinging on

17985-432: The intersection of 25th Avenue and 31st Street; the former was later renamed Hoyt Avenue. The suspension span was designed by chief engineer Othmar Ammann . The span was originally designed to be double-decked, with eight lanes on each deck. When the construction of the Triborough Bridge was paused in 1932 due to lack of funding, the suspension span was downsized to a single deck. There are Warren trusses on each side of

18150-427: The late 1930s a municipal controversy raged over whether an additional vehicular link between Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan should be built as a bridge or a tunnel. Bridges can be wider and cheaper to build, but taller and longer bridges use more ramp space at landfall than tunnels do. A "Brooklyn Battery Bridge" would have decimated Battery Park and physically encroached on the financial district, and for this reason,

18315-578: The length of the Hell Gate suspension bridge's main span from 1,100 to 1,380 feet (340 to 420 m). The scale of the Triborough Bridge project, including its approaches, was such that hundreds of large apartment buildings were demolished to make way for it. The structure used concrete from factories "from Maine to the Mississippi", and steel from 50 mills in Pennsylvania. To make the formwork for pouring

18480-483: The lift bridge viaduct. The interchange plaza originally contained two tollbooths: one for traffic traveling to and from Manhattan, and one for traffic traveling on I-278 between the Bronx and Queens. The tollbooths were arranged so vehicles only paid one toll upon entering Randalls and Wards Islands, and there was no charge to exit the island. The elevated toll plazas had a surface area of about 9 acres (3.6 ha) and were supported by 1,700 columns, all hidden behind

18645-449: The main span's suspension cables was finished in July 1935. By that time, half of the $ 41 million federal grant had been spent on construction, and the bridge was expected to open the following year. The bridge was expected to relieve traffic on nearby highways, and, with the upcoming 1939 New York World's Fair being held in Queens, would also provide a new route to the fairground at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park . The construction of

18810-452: The need for one last great bridge project, a span crossing Long Island Sound from Rye to Oyster Bay . Rockefeller did not press for the project in the late 1960s through 1970, fearing public backlash among suburban Republicans would hinder his re-election prospects. A 1972 study found the bridge was fiscally prudent and could be environmentally manageable (according to the comparatively low environmental impact parameters of that period), but

18975-562: The new Long Island State Park Commission and the State Council of Parks. In 1924, Governor Smith appointed Moses chairman of the State Council of Parks and president of the Long Island State Park Commission. This centralization allowed Smith to run a government later used as a model for Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal federal government. Moses also received numerous commissions that he carried out efficiently, such as

19140-475: The new roads mostly conformed to the new vision, lacking the landscaping or the commercial traffic restrictions of the pre-war highways. He was the mover behind Shea Stadium and Lincoln Center , and contributed to the United Nations headquarters . On November 25, 1950, Governor Thomas E. Dewey appointed Moses along with former Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson and former Justice Charles C. Lockwood as

19305-472: The northbound roadway carrying eastbound traffic. Two circular ramps carry traffic to and from eastbound I-278 and the RFK lift bridge to Manhattan. Randalls and Wards Islands are accessed via exits and entrances to and from westbound I-278; to and from the westbound lift bridge viaduct; to eastbound I-278; and from the eastbound lift bridge viaduct. Eastbound traffic on I-278 accesses the island by first exiting onto

19470-570: The northeastern Bronx. Civic groups advocated for an approach highway from the West Bronx, and Bronx borough president James J. Lyons tried to block the Board of Estimate from approving the Manhattan approach highway until a West Bronx approach was also provided for. Despite this, in October 1934, the Board of Estimate approved the East River Drive approach while rejecting the West Bronx approach. While reformers embraced Moses's plans to expand

19635-527: The one in Colonial Park (now Jackie Robinson Park ), were placed in inconvenient locations. Another author wrote that of 255 playgrounds built in the 1930s under Moses's tenure, only two were in largely Black neighborhoods. Caro wrote that close associates of Moses had claimed they could keep African Americans from using the Thomas Jefferson Pool , in then-predominantly-white East Harlem , by making

19800-569: The parkway system, state and city officials were overwhelmed by their scale, and slow to move to provide financing for the vast system. Partial funding came from interest-bearing bonds issued by the Triborough Bridge Authority, to be secured by future toll revenue. Financing disputes with the PWA involved complex political infighting. The disputes peaked in January 1935, when Ickes passed a rule that effectively prohibited PWA funding for

19965-503: The path of the bridge's approaches protested the eviction notices given to them. The Harlem Market on First Avenue, which stood in the way of the Manhattan approach, was to be relocated to the Bronx Terminal Market . The construction of the Triborough Bridge across Little Hell Gate also required the demolition of hospital buildings on Randalls and Wards Islands. The New York City Department of Hospitals applied for funds to build

20130-411: The pools should be kept a few degrees colder, allegedly because Moses believed African Americans did not like cold water. Although Moses had power over the construction of all New York City Housing Authority public housing projects and headed many other entities, it was his chairmanship of the Triborough Bridge Authority that gave him the most power. The Triborough Bridge (later officially renamed

20295-489: The preliminary borings showed that the bedrock in the ground underneath the proposed bridge was sufficient to support the spans' foundations. In early March, the Board of Estimate voted to start construction on the bridge and on the Narrows tunnel once funding was obtained. The same month, the board allocated $ 3 million toward the bridge's construction. Separately, the Board of Estimate voted to create an authority to impose toll charges on both crossings. In April 1929,

20460-461: The project was 15% completed, and the city was accepting designs for the Queens span's suspension towers. The granite foundations in the water near each bank of the East River, which would support the suspension towers, were completed in early or mid-1932. At the time, there were no funds to build six additional piers on Randalls Island and one in Little Hell Gate, nor were there funds to build

20625-505: The project was still included in the $ 213 million worth of budget cuts. Following this, Goldman submitted a proposal to fund the planning stages for the remaining portions of construction, so that work could resume immediately once sufficient funding was available. In August 1932, Senator Robert F. Wagner announced that he would ask for a $ 26 million loan from the federal government, namely President Herbert Hoover's Reconstruction Finance Corporation , so there could be funds for

20790-438: The proposed Queens–Midtown Tunnel . The Tri-Borough Bridge was being planned in conjunction with the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway , which would create a continuous highway between the Bronx and Brooklyn with a southward extension over The Narrows to Staten Island . In January 1929, New York City aldermanic president Joseph V. McKee endorsed the bridge, saying there was enough funding to begin one of four proposed bridges on

20955-416: The proposed Harlem River span, with a height of 50 feet (15 m) above mean high water, was too short for most ships, and suggested building a 135-foot-high (41 m) suspension span over the Harlem River instead. Because of complaints about maritime navigational clearance, the Department of War approved an increase in the Harlem River fixed bridge's height to 55 feet (17 m), as well as an increase in

21120-656: The public can be traced, in the main, to ... Caro's magnificent biography". For example, Caro describes Moses's lack of sensitivity in the construction of the Cross-Bronx Expressway , and how he disfavored public transit . Much of Moses's reputation is attributable to Caro, whose book won both the Pulitzer Prize in Biography in 1975 and the Francis Parkman Prize (which is awarded by the Society of American Historians ), and

21285-570: The publication of Robert Caro 's Pulitzer Prize -winning biography The Power Broker (1974), which cast doubt on the purported benefits of many of Moses's projects and further cast Moses as racist. In large part because of The Power Broker , Moses is today considered a controversial figure in the history of New York City as well as New York State. Moses was born in New Haven, Connecticut , on December 18, 1888, to parents of German Jewish descent, Isabella “Bella” (Cohen) and Emanuel Moses. He spent

21450-457: The roadway to move sideways by up to 13.25 inches (337 mm) in either direction. At mean high water, the towers are 315 feet (96 m) tall, and there is 143 feet (44 m) of clearance under the middle of the main span. The suspension towers were originally designed by Arthur I. Perry. Each tower was supposed to have two ornate arches at the top, similar to the Brooklyn Bridge , and

21615-587: The ruin of the South Bronx and the amusement parks of Coney Island , caused the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants Major League baseball teams to relocate to Los Angeles and San Francisco respectively, and precipitated the decline of public transport from disinvestment and neglect. His building of expressways also hindered the proposed expansion of the New York City Subway from

21780-423: The scale of works with the high cost and the slow speed of public works in the decades following his era. The peak of Moses's construction occurred during the economic duress of the Great Depression , and despite the era's woes, Moses's projects were completed in a timely fashion and have been reliable public works since then, which compares favorably to the delays that New York City officials have had in redeveloping

21945-525: The site of the Manhattan span was marked only by its foundations. The deck of the Queens suspension span was completed the following month. The work was dangerous, as some workers fell off the scaffolding that had been erected to allow them to build the suspension span, while others died due to lead poisoning . In November 1935, a controversy emerged over the fact that the Triborough Bridge would use steel imported from Nazi Germany , rather than American producers. Although American steel producers objected to

22110-492: The site, and these men would only be putting into place the materials furnished by the labor of many times five thousand men; before the Triborough Bridge was completed, its construction would have generated more than 31,000,000 man-hours of work in 134 cities in twenty states. The Board of Estimate approved the first contracts for the Triborough Bridge in early October 1929, specifically for the construction bridge piers on Randalls and Wards Islands and in Queens. This allowed for

22275-458: The south facade, at opposite ends of the building. It honors Brooklynites who served in World War II. The full plan, however, was never fully built because of lack of funding. At the time of its dedication, November 12, 1951, these were said to be the largest sculptures in New York City. Two figures representing Victory and Family stand to the sides of the inscription which reads: This memorial

22440-488: The south. Excluding elevated ramps, the segments are a total of 17,710 feet (5,400 m) long, with a 13,560-foot-long (4,130 m) span between the Bronx and Queens, and a 4,150-foot-long (1,260 m) span between Manhattan and the interchange plaza. In total, the bridge contains 17.5 miles (28.2 km) of roadway, including elevated ramps. The bridge was primarily designed by chief engineer Othmar H. Ammann and architect Aymar Embury II . Wharton Green served as

22605-407: The span could be replaced with a lift bridge if needed. The same month, the city approved the first segment of the East River Drive, leading from the intersection of York Avenue and 92nd Street to the Triborough Bridge approach at 125th Street. The bridge approach on the Bronx side was also finalized, running along Southern and Eastern boulevards, with a future extension to Pelham Bay Park in

22770-453: The span in order to avoid a $ 43.7 million budget shortage by the end of that year. With no new contracts being awarded, the chief engineer of the Department of Plant and Structures, Edward A. Byrne , warned in March 1932 that construction on the Triborough Bridge would have to be halted. Though Queens borough president Harvey objected to the impending postponement of the bridge's construction,

22935-449: The span, which stiffen the deck. The center span between the two suspension towers is 1,380 feet (421 m) long, and the side spans between the suspension towers and the anchorages are each 700 feet (213 m) long. The total length of the bridge is 2,780 feet (847 m), and the deck is 98 feet (30 m) wide. The columns under the Wards Island approach roadway were originally placed atop 400,000 steel ball bearings , allowing

23100-466: The start of construction on the Triborough Bridge's suspension span to Queens. A groundbreaking ceremony was held in Astoria Park , Queens, on October 25, 1929, just a day after Black Thursday , which started the Great Depression . Mayor Walker turned over the first spadeful of dirt for the bridge in front of 10,000 visitors. After the groundbreaking ceremony, further construction was delayed because

23265-568: The success of the event. Moses refused to accept BIE requirements, including a restriction against charging ground rents to exhibitors, and the BIE in turn instructed its member nations not to participate. The United States had already staged the sanctioned Century 21 Exposition in Seattle in 1962. According to the rules of the organization, no one nation could host more than one fair in a decade. The major European democracies, as well as Canada, Australia, and

23430-528: The suspension towers themselves. The Great Depression severely impacted the city's ability to finance the Triborough Bridge's construction. City comptroller Charles W. Berry had stated in February 1930 that the city was in sound financial condition, even though other large cities were nearing bankruptcy. However, the New York City government was running out of money by that July. The Triborough project's outlook soon began to look bleak. Chief engineer Othmar Ammann

23595-627: The time he left office, he had built 658 playgrounds in New York City alone, plus 416 miles (669 km) of parkways and 13 bridges. The proportion of public benefit corporations is greater in New York than in any other U.S. state , however, making them the prime mode of infrastructure building and maintenance in New York and accounting for 90% of the state's debt. Moses's life was most famously characterized in Robert Caro 's 1974 award-winning biography The Power Broker . The book highlighted his practice of starting projects certain to cost more than

23760-468: The time of its completion, the Harlem River lift bridge had the largest deck of any lift bridge in the world, with a surface area of 20,000 square feet (1,900 m ). To lighten the deck, it was made of asphalt paved onto steel girders, rather than of concrete. The movable span is 310 feet (94 m) long and 92 feet (28 m) wide. The side spans between the movable span and the approach viaducts are each 195 feet (59 m) long. The total length of

23925-615: The tolls collected from them; he built, among others, the Triborough Bridge , the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel , and the Throgs Neck Bridge , as well as several major highways. These roadways and bridges, alongside urban renewal efforts that destroyed huge swaths of tenement housing and replaced them with large public housing projects , transformed the physical fabric of New York and inspired other cities to undertake similar development endeavors. Moses's reputation declined after

24090-603: The water too cold. Nonetheless, no other source has corroborated the claim that heaters in any particular pool were deactivated or not included in the pool's design. In addition, Moses took a favorable view of the British Empire and a racism much broader than solely towards the African-American community, speaking of Empire as useful in stemming the "rise of the lesser breeds without the law". Some scholars have attempted to rehabilitate Moses's reputation by contrasting

24255-519: Was active in the settlement movement , with her own love of building. Robert Moses and his brother Paul attended several schools for their elementary and secondary education , the Dwight School and the Mohegan Lake School , a military academy near Peekskill . After graduating from Yale College (B.A., 1909) and Wadham College , Oxford (B.A., Jurisprudence, 1911; M.A., 1913), and earning

24420-399: Was also considered. A contract to build the suspension anchorage on Wards Island was awarded in January 1931. At the time, progress on the bridge approaches was proceeding rapidly, and it was expected that the entire Triborough Bridge complex would be completed in 1934. By August 1931, it was reported that the Wards Island anchorage was 33% completed, and that the corresponding anchorage on

24585-483: Was also given powers over public housing that had eluded him under LaGuardia. When O'Dwyer was forced to resign in disgrace and was succeeded by Vincent R. Impellitteri , Moses was able to assume even greater behind-the-scenes control over infrastructure projects. One of Moses's first steps after Impellitteri took office was halting the creation of a citywide Comprehensive Zoning Plan underway since 1938 that would have curtailed his nearly unlimited power to build within

24750-433: Was also included in a "transit plan" published by Mayor John Francis Hylan , who called for the construction of the Tri-Borough Bridge as part of the city-operated Independent Subway System (see § Public transportation ). In March 1923, a vote was held on whether to allocate money to perform surveys and test borings, as well as create structural plans for the Tri-Borough Bridge. The borough presidents of Manhattan and

24915-421: Was designed by consulting engineers Ash-Howard-Needles and Tammen. The Bronx Kill span contains three main truss crossings, which are fixed spans because the Bronx Kill is not used by regular boat traffic. The main truss span across the Bronx Kill is 383 feet (117 m) long, while the approaches are a combined 1,217 feet (371 m). The total length of the bridge is 1,600 feet (488 m). The truss span

25080-519: Was done to make it more difficult for future legislatures to allow access for commercial vehicles. Woolgar and Cooper refer to the claim about bridges as an "urban legend". Moses vocally opposed allowing Black war veterans to move into Stuyvesant Town , a Manhattan residential development complex created to house World War II veterans. In response to the biography, Moses defended his forced displacement of poor and minority communities as an inevitable part of urban revitalization: "I raise my stein to

25245-507: Was enlisted to help guide the project, but the combination of Tammany Hall graft, the stock market crash , and the Great Depression which followed it, brought the project to a virtual halt. Investors shied away from purchasing the municipal bonds needed to fund it. By early 1932, the Triborough Bridge project was in danger of cancellation. As part of $ 213 million in cuts to the city's budget, Berry wanted to halt construction on

25410-539: Was in apparent retaliation, based on specious claims that the proposed tunnel would undermine Castle Clinton's foundation. He also attempted to raze Castle Clinton itself, the historic fort surviving only after being transferred to the federal government. Moses now had no other option for a trans-river crossing than to build a tunnel. He commissioned the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel (now officially the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel ),

25575-644: Was named one of the 100 greatest non-fiction books of the twentieth century by the Modern Library . Upon its publication, Moses denounced the biography in a 23-page statement, to which Caro replied to defend his work's integrity. Caro's depiction of Moses's life gives him full credit for his early achievements, showing, for example, how he conceived and created Jones Beach and the New York State Park system, but also shows how Moses's desire for power came to be more important to him than his earlier dreams. Moses

25740-416: Was next to the Manhattan span's plaza, to which it was connected. In 1969, the Manhattan span's toll plaza was relocated west and the I-278 toll plaza was relocated south, and both toll plazas were expanded more than threefold. This required the destruction of the building's original towers. A room was built in 1966 to store Moses's models and blueprints of planned roads and crossings, but they were relocated to

25905-506: Was not immediately submitted to the New York City Board of Estimate as a result of a reorganization of the city's proposed budget. Goldman finally published the report in March 1927, stating that the bridge was estimated to cost $ 24.6 million. He explained that the Hell Gate Bridge only had enough space for five lanes of roadway, so a new bridge would have to be constructed parallel to it. Though two mayoral committees endorsed

26070-794: Was of Jewish origin and raised in a secularist manner inspired by the Ethical Culture movement of the late 19th century. He was a convert to Christianity and was interred in a crypt in an outdoor community mausoleum in Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York City following services at St. Peter's by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Bay Shore, New York . Various locations and roadways in New York State bear Moses's name. These include two state parks, Robert Moses State Park – Thousand Islands in Massena, New York and Robert Moses State Park – Long Island ,

26235-461: Was said to have blocked Paul, an engineer, from being hired for any public service jobs including major infrastructure projects that Moses himself had spearheaded. Paul, whom Caro interviewed shortly before the former's death, claimed Robert had exerted undue influence on their mother to change her will in Robert's favor shortly before her death. Caro notes that Paul was on bad terms with their mother over

26400-497: Was that of Parks Commissioner of New York City, a role he served from January 18, 1934, to May 23, 1960. The many offices and professional titles that Moses held gave him unusually broad power to shape urban development in the New York metropolitan region. These include, according to the New York Preservation Archive Project: During the 1920s, Moses sparred with Franklin D. Roosevelt , then head of

26565-429: Was the first fully divided limited access highway in the world. Moses was a highly influential figure in the initiation of many of the reforms that restructured New York state's government during the 1920s. A 'Reconstruction Commission' headed by Moses produced a highly influential report that provided recommendations that would largely be adopted, including the consolidation of 187 existing agencies under 18 departments,

26730-462: Was to have been supported by four legs: two on the outside and two in the center. A 1932 article described that each tower would be made of 5,000 tons of material, including 3,680 tons of steel. The final design of the suspension towers, by Ammann, consists of comparatively simple cross bracing supported by two legs. The tops of each tower contain cast iron saddles in the Art Deco style, over which

26895-461: Was unconstitutional to impair existing contractual obligations, as the bondholders had the right of approval over such actions. The largest holder of TBTA bonds, and thus agent for all the others, was the Chase Manhattan Bank , headed then by David Rockefeller , the governor's brother. No suit was filed. Moses could have directed TBTA to go to court against the action, but having been promised

27060-457: Was willing to pay — was rejected by both pro- and anti-Moses officials, newspapers, and the public, as an unacceptable government subsidy of a private business enterprise. Moses envisioned New York's newest stadium being built in Queens' Flushing Meadows on the former (and as it turned out, future) site of the World's Fair , where it would eventually host all three of the city's major league teams of

27225-468: Was willing to replace the TBA chairman if it resulted in funding for the bridge. In mid-March, Ickes suddenly backed down on his ultimatum; not only was Moses allowed to keep both of his positions, but the PWA also resumed its payments to the TBA. La Guardia re-appointed Moses to the TBA the same year. Meanwhile, in February 1935, the TBA awarded a contract to construct the piers for the Harlem River lift structure. Despite an impending lack of funds due to

#272727