Controversial design
New York had built a tradition from the second half of the 19th century of stirring up debate, argument and objections whenever bridges and tunnels across the East River were discussed. The Brooklyn Bridge designers turned rejection of their first designs in to advantage by thinking of useful innovations in suspension, cable construction, and tower design and deck layout. The Manhattan Bridge is the first structure of its kind for which the revolutionary Deflection Theory was put in to practice. Successive administrators changed engineers, so the final Manhattan Bridge was a hybrid of more than one school of engineering thought. It worked well for about 7 decades, but engineers discovered critical wear and tear in 1978. There have been some who claim that flawed design has been responsible for corrosion, but others in the know opine that the problems are due to heavy subway traffic in opposite directions at the same time. Reconstruction has drawn as much controversy as the original design. Repair has been in progress for 2 decades and is not planned for completion until 2008. Safety for cyclists remains a long-standing and unresolved issue. One wonders if it might have been simpler to just get a new bridge, or to dig a tunnel for the subway that is often blamed for the troubles of the bridge! The suspension cables and light blue towers make the bridge appear almost delicate in comparison to its neighbors. Pedestrians enjoy unusual views as they stroll across its expanse. Commuters in a hurry may rarely notice, but the entrance on the Canal Street side has an ornamental arch and large colonnades that lend an artistic and a grand touch to those who use the bridge with time to admire the surroundings. The somewhat troubled engineering history of the Manhattan Bridge and its delicate profile fade in the face of the sheer numbers that have grown to depend on it. 72 thousand vehicles and 350 thousand people use the bridge on an average day. Its importance may be gauged from the fact that it was closed with chaotic effect for almost a week after 9/11. The connection between Canal Street in lower Manhattan and Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn is a key artery for flow of people and vehicles within the network and of enormous commercial importance. The Manhattan Bridge is a useful and toll-free alternate to the Brooklyn Bridge. It now has 7 lanes for vehicles with the ones for carriages long gone. More than 100 trains traverse its length at high speed in either direction on all days. The bridge has served Manhattan and Brooklyn since 1909. Its role and achievements are perhaps sidelined in the cacophony that surrounds its design and the engineers and contractors who have been associated with it.
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The 1890s saw rapid growth of the populations and the economies of Manhattan and 