New York City has many bridges made using different methods of construction. Bridges help connect different parts of our city that are separated by waterways. You can travel over some bridges by train, car, foot, or bike! Can you name any NYC bridges? This image shows the Manhattan Bridge in the foreground and the Brooklyn Bridge in the background.

This is the Brooklyn Bridge, a suspension bridge that connects Manhattan and Brooklyn. It was the world’s first steel-wire suspension bridge, and it took over 14 years to build. It opened in 1883. Horse-drawn vehicles and elevated railway lines used to travel over the Brooklyn Bridge, but today it is used only by motor vehicles, pedestrians, and bicycles. The weight of the bridge is supported by four main cables. The main cables have smaller suspender cables that hold up the bridge deck, which is made of a truss (structure of beams). The bridge deck is at a right angle to the suspension towers. This is called a transverse truss.

This is the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, a suspension bridge that connects Staten Island and Brooklyn. It was the world’s longest suspension bridge when it was completed. It took 5 years to build and was opened in 1964. It is 693 feet high and is 4,260 feet long. That’s so long that the tops of the towers are farther apart than at the base, to account for the curvature of the Earth! The weight of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is supported by four main cables, held up by two towers. The four main cables have smaller suspender cables that hold up the bridge deck, which is made of a truss (structure of beams). The bridge deck is at a right angle to the two suspension towers. This is called a transverse truss.

This is the Queensboro Bridge, a cantilever bridge that connects Long Island City to the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It was completed in 1909. It has two levels to transport vehicles. The upper level has four lanes for cars with two lanes in each direction, and the lower level has another five lanes for cars driving into Queens. You can also walk or bike across the lower level. Unlike the Brooklyn Bridge, the Queensboro Bridge has two levels and supports its weight with five cantilever posts. The cantilever is an anchored vertical post that can support two long arms that reach across each section of the bridge.

This is the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge, a vertical-lift bridge that crosses Jamaica Bay and connects the Rockaways in Queens to Marine Park, Brooklyn. It was opened on July 3, 1937. The middle span is 540 feet. The deck is 55 feet above the water, but it can be raised 150 feet in the air. It has lanes for car and bus traffic, a bicycle path on one side of the bridge, and a footpath on the other side. A vertical-lift bridge is a bridge that can move the span, or middle, up or to the side to allow marine traffic underneath the bridge. Most vertical-lift bridges have two towers with extremely powerful motors, cables, and counterweights, or balancing weights, to lift the deck of the bridge.