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VERRAZANO-NARROWS BRIDGE

VERRAZANO-NARROWS BRIDGE. This suspension bridge connects Brooklyn and Staten Island in NEW YORK CITY. Though the idea had been discussed for more than eighty years, the bridge became part of Robert Moses's plan to modernize the city and open avenues of automotive transportation. Moses's influence overcame objections to the bridge, and construction began in September 1959, according to a design by Swiss engineer Othmar Ammann. The bridge, named for Giovanni da Verrazano—the first European to enter New York harbor, opened to the public on 21 November 1964. Moses called it a "triumph of simplicity and restraint."

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Rastorfer, Darl. Six Bridges: The Legacy of Othmar H. Ammann. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2000.

Reier, Sharon. The Bridges of New York. New York: Quadrant Press, 1977.

Talese, Gay. The Bridge. New York: Harper and Row, 1964.

Ruth Kaplan

See also Bridges.