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Happy 70th Birthday, Triborough Bridge
By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 11, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 11, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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The Triborough Bridge is 70 years old today. As the MTA puts it, the bridge is "actually three bridges, a viaduct, and 14 miles of approach roads connecting Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx." And traveling along it can provide some of the most beautiful views of the city -and the bridges themselves aren't bad. Today, the NY Times looks at the history of the bridge and its creator, Robert Moses. We liked this quote about Moses, the scarily powerful Parks Commissioner:
“He was a visionary,” said Robert Del Bagno, exhibitions manager at the Transit Museum in Brooklyn Heights, where “The Triborough Bridge: Robert Moses and the Automobile Age” is on display through next year.
“We’re steering clear of casting judgment,” Mr. Del Bagno added. “We will tell you that the Triborough led to suburbanization. We stop short of saying it led to urban sprawl. Both are true. The city changed very radically from that point on.”
And Moses' biographer, Robert Caro, adds that this is "one of the good things he did. He tied together Long Island, Manhattan and the mainland with a single bridge...It was a supreme example of building a huge public work in a democracy."
Check out the "triborough" tag on Flickr for some great photographs.
Photograph by world of pj on Flickr
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Triborough Bridge
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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