Construction and History
Originally designed as a stone arch bridge, the High Bridge had the appearance of a Roman aqueduct. Construction on the bridge was started in 1837, and completed in 1848 as part of the Croton Aqueduct, which carried water from the Croton River to supply the then burgeoning city of New York some 10 miles (16 km) to the south. It has a length of well over 2,000 feet (600 m). It was designed by the aqueduct's engineering team, led by John B. Jervis. James Renwick, Jr., who later went on to design New York's landmark Saint Patrick's Cathedral on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, participated in the design.
The Croton Aqueduct had to cross the Harlem River at some point, and the method was a major design decision. A tunnel under the river was considered, but tunneling technology was in its infancy at the time, and the uncertainty of pursuing this option led to its rejection. This left a bridge, with the Water Commission, engineers and the public split between a low bridge and a high bridge. A low bridge would have been simpler, faster, and cheaper to construct. When concerns were raised to the New York Legislature that a low bridge would obstruct passage along the Harlem River to the Hudson River, a high bridge was ultimately chosen.
In 1928, in order to improve navigation in the Harlem River, all of the masonry arches of the central part of the bridge that spanned the river were demolished and replaced with a single steel arch of about 450 feet (135 m). Of the masonry arches of the original 1848 bridge, only one survives on the Manhattan side, while some ten survive on the Bronx side.
Officials were thinking of closing the bridge in the mid 1960s due to disrepair, then in 1970 a pedestrian threw a rock from the bridge onto a tour boat, and the bridge was closed.
In November 2006 it was announced that the bridge would reopen to pedestrians in 2009 (later postponed to 2013) after a $20 million renovation project. With the renovation, the arch will be stronger, staircases will be improved, cameras will be placed on both ends of the bridge, and boat beacon lights will be added, among other features.
Read more about this topic: High Bridge (New York City)
Famous quotes containing the words construction and/or history:
“No real “vital” character in fiction is altogether a conscious construction of the author. On the contrary, it may be a sort of parasitic growth upon the author’s personality, developing by internal necessity as much as by external addition.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“In nature, all is useful, all is beautiful. It is therefore beautiful, because it is alive, moving, reproductive; it is therefore useful, because it is symmetrical and fair. Beauty will not come at the call of a legislature, nor will it repeat in England or America its history in Greece. It will come, as always, unannounced, and spring up between the feet of brave and earnest men.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)