Long Island: geography, history, and contemporary significance

Verrazano-Narrows Bridge

Upon it's grand opening in 1964, Gay Talese of the New York Times had this to say about one of Robert Moses' most ambitious projects, the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, "The sun shone, the sky was cloudless; bands played, cannons echoed up and down the harbor, flags waved, and thousands of motorists yesterday became part of the first -- and perhaps only-- blissful traffic jam on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge" (Talese). Aside from the humorous traffic jam comment, this picturesque account of the opening of the world's largest suspension bridge (for its time) seems very auspicious (MTA metro). That is to say, one gets a sense that this bridge was conceived and constructed without a glitch, without a sense of trepidation, and with the full support and cooperation of neighboring communities. However, a close examination of history and the facts suggest that although the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge serves the greater public good, it was not built without sacrifice. It is the purpose of this paper to examine those sacrifices.

Where the mouth of the Hudson River meets the Atlantic Ocean there is a tidal strait conveniently called, "The Narrows," that separates Staten Island from Brooklyn and the rest of New York City. The Narrows form the closest connecting part of New York City's hourglass harbor (Reier 142). In short, it's the perfect place to build a bridge.

Yet despite gallant efforts by many city planners, urban developers, and politicians to build a bridge early on, no progress could be made. In fact, efforts to build a bridge across The Narrows were rebuffed for almost sixty straight years before a man with all the temerity and gumption in the world finally got things underway. That man, of course, was Robert Moses -- "the master builder."

What held up bridge construction in the previous years were pitfalls regarding funds (public vs. private, state vs. federal), approvals from the Army (there two military bases located on either side of the channel that guarded The Narrows), local politics, and a large faction of residents in both Brooklyn and Staten Island who believed a bridge of that magnitude would disrupt their way of life. Yet, in spite of these various areas of resistance, Robert Moses, with his temerity, gumption, and indefatigable nature, got his way and bridge designer Othmar Ammann got to build his baby.

The bridge with its twelve lanes and two levels (the upper deck was finished in 1964, the lower deck was finished in 1969) represents, in many ways, a great feat in engineering. For one thing its 693-foot high towers are spaced 1 5/8 inches farther apart at their tops than at their bases (MTA). The reason? Due to the incredible distance between these two towers, 4,260 feet, the engineers had to compensate for the curvature of the earth's surface (MTA). Moreover, the bridge's sheer size is impressive, for example, each tower weighs 27,000 tons and is held together with some three million rivets and one million bolts (MTA).

Not everyone was impressed with the bridge. As mentioned, there were many individuals who opposed the construction of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Resistance to the bridge was strongest in the Italian, middle-class community of Bay Ridge Brooklyn. They feared that 8,000 members of their community would be displaced due to bridge construction and the 12-lane approaches that would lead to the bridge itself. Additionally, residents of Staten Island were also worried that the bridge and the "Colossus of Roads" project, as it was nicknamed, would disrupt their rural and quiet way of life (Reiner 141).

In the end, both anti-bridge contingencies in Bay Ridge and in Staten Island saw their worst fears realized. An excerpt from The Great Bridge by Edward M. Young and Lili Rethi: "Residents who were used to their small-town ways witnessed a metamorphosis of their borough into a densely populated bedroom community, complete with condominium developments, shopping complexes and industrial parks. While the populations in the other four boroughs held steady or even declined, the population in Staten Island more than doubled in the years that followed the bridge's opening" (Rethi & Young). If the transformation of their way of life wasn't already tough enough, the residents of Staten Island also had to deal with increased air pollution ().

Reactions to the bridge were not all negative. In fact, the majority of business people and residents who lived outside the Staten Island and Bay Ridge communities thought the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was a great idea. However, one could argue that support for the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, or any major public work that displaces residents and increases noise and air pollution, is relative to the interests of those involved and affected by the project. To explicate, if one is going to have to sacrifice something, i.e. one is going to lose his/her home and/or his/her way of life, then he/she will of course be opposed to the change. But if one is going to profit from the construction, not only monetarily, but convenience factors related to transit, etc., then he/she is going to support the bridge despite the inconveniencies it places on other people. There are no shortages of sacrifices or opportunity costs in a project like the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.