Manhattan Bridge - Vintage Images

The Manhattan Bridge is a double-deck suspension bridge constructed between 1901 and 1909, over East River. It links Chinatown in Lower Manhattan to the neighborhood of Dumbo in Brooklyn.

The bridge was designed by Leon Moisseiff (1872-1943), who also assisted in designing the George Washington and Robert F. Kennedy bridges. The Bridge No. 3, as originally called, was proposed in 1898. It was renamed the Manhattan Bridge in 1902. Foundations for the bridge's suspension towers were completed in 1904 and the towers, in 1908. The Manhattan Bridge opened to traffic on December 31, 1909.

The bridge supports seven lanes of vehicular traffic, four transit train lines, a pedestrian walkway and a separate bikeway. The total length from abutment to abutment at lower level is 5,790 feet long, main span is 1,470 feet long.

The Manhattan Bridge in 1910 and a similar plane model of Santos Dumont's 14 Bis (1906) flying over it. Postcard by American Art Publishing Co., based on photograph by Irving Underhill.