David B. Steinman - Robinson & Steinman

Robinson & Steinman

In May 1920, Holton D. Robinson (b. 1863, Massena, NY, d. 1945, engineer of the Williamsburg Bridge) contacted Steinman and requested that they join forces to create a design for the Florianópolis Bridge (or Hercilio Luz Bridge, 1926) in Florianópolis, Brazil. After getting advice from Charles Fowler, Steinman agreed and they formed the firm of Robinson & Steinman in 1921, a partnership that lasted until the 1940s. They did not win the contract immediately but continued to collaborate on it and other projects. The early 1920s were considered a tough time for bridge construction, so Steinman tried to design his bridges to be economically pleasing rather than artistic, without sacrificing the structural integrity of the bridge. For example, Robinson and Steinman changed the original plans for the Florianopolis bridge, using eyebar chains as the upper chord of the stiffening truss instead of the conventional wire-cable. The new design produced a very stiff bridge with much less material than the original plan. Other bridge engineers would also have to take this new economical design into account when competing with Steinman. Steinman was well regarded in the profession and had a reputation for good presentations and for being politically astute.

The 1920s and 1930s were a relatively busy period for Steinman. His firm was involved in many significant projects including the Hercilio Luz Bridge (or Florianópolis Bridge, 1926), the Carquinez Strait Bridge (1927, at the time the second largest cantilever bridge in the US), the Mount Hope Bridge and Grand Mère Suspension Bridge (both 1929), the St. Johns Bridge and Waldo-Hancock Bridge (both 1931), the Sky Ride (1933 passenger transporter bridge at the Chicago Century of Progress exposition), the Henry Hudson Bridge (1936, particularly gratifying as this bridge realised his PhD thesis proposal), the Wellesley and Hill Islands Bridge, Wellesley Island Suspension Bridge and Georgina Island Bridge (all 1938) and Deer Isle Bridge and the Sullivan-Hutsonville Bridge (both 1939) (many of these are part of the Thousand Islands Bridge System).

In addition to the many bridges that Steinman designed, he was consulted on several projects that his firm did not win. Perhaps the most famous of these bridges is "Galloping Gertie," the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Steinman consulted extensively with the boosters of the bridge during the 1920s, but his design was not selected. He wrote of his frustration with the design that was chosen, and predicted a failure. He presented his findings at the 1938 meeting of the structural division of the American Society of Civil Engineers. In the audience was the designer of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which was under construction at the time. The failure did occur and he wrote that it had a profound impact on his design principles; he became even more conservative. It is said that he designed the Mackinac Bridge to withstand winds of 365 mph. It is considered by many to be his most significant work, although, perhaps not by Steinman himself, who expressed a personal preference for the St. Johns bridge, saying, "If you asked me which of the bridges I love best, I believe I would say the St. Johns bridge. I put more of myself into that bridge than any other bridge."

During this period Steinman became president of the American Association of Engineers and campaigned for more stringent educational and ethical standards within the profession. He also founded the National Society of Professional Engineers in 1934 serving as its first president. By the mid 1930s Steinman had a professional reputation as one of the pre-eminent bridge engineers of the US, especially for long span suspension bridges, but his bridges were eclipsed in the public eye by his old rival Ammann's George Washington Bridge (1931) and by Joseph Strauss's Golden Gate Bridge (1937) among others. His plans for a NYC cross harbor bridge (the "Liberty Bridge") came to naught with the 1940 collapse of Tacoma Narrows which cast all long suspension span proposals in doubt.