Whitestone Bridge turns 85
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The Bronx-Whitestone Bridge celebrates its 85th anniversary. Photo via the MTA
By Ryan Schwach
The Whitestone Bridge, which connects northern Queens and the Bronx, celebrated its 85th birthday on Monday.
The MTA celebrated the 85th anniversary of the opening of the crossing, known as the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, which opened in 1939, in conjunction with the New York World’s Fair.
To celebrate the octogenarian bridge, the MTA has an anniversary display in Grand Central Terminal’s Vanderbilt Passage. The display features historic photos from the MTA Bridges & Tunnels Special Archive collection and artifacts from the bridge’s storied past, including an original mercury vapor necklace light that illuminated the bridge for nearly 77 years before being replaced with LED lighting in 2016.
“Whether it’s daily commuters getting to work, or delivery drivers moving goods across boroughs, the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge has been moving hundreds of thousands of drivers across the Long Island Sound every day for 85 years,” said MTA Bridges and Tunnels President Cathy Sheridan. “We look forward to celebrating even more milestones for the bridge as it continues to serve drivers in the Bronx, Queens and across the region.”
The bridge officially opened to traffic on April 29, 1939, the day before the start of the World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. The bridge’s sleek, streamlined style kept with the theme of the fair – “Building the World of Tomorrow.”
The idea for the bridge began with Robert Moses, the city’s most infamous planner who proposed building the bridge as part of his planned Belt Parkway system. He persuaded the New York State Legislature to support his plan, and construction contracts for the bridge were awarded in June 1937.
The bridge was completed in just under two years.
Each of its towers was erected in 18 days and it took just 41 days to construct the bridge’s two cables. In 1939, its 2,300-foot main suspension span was the fourth longest in the world, surpassed in length only by the Golden Gate and Transbay Bridges in San Francisco and the George Washington Bridge.
The total cost of the bridge was $17.7 million, which in today’s money is equal to over $4 billion.
When it opened it was cheaper to cross too – just 25 cents got you over the crossing, where drivers now pay $6.94 with E-ZPass.
Othmar Hermann Ammann was the chief engineer during the building process and Allston Dana was its engineer of design. The pair were also responsible for the design of the Triborough Bridge, now known as the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s George Washington Bridge.
“The Bronx-Whitestone Bridge is a critical connection for New York City and the region, linking two boroughs – the Bronx and Queens – and connecting Hudson Valley counties to Long Island,” said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. “Today we celebrate this majestic feat of engineering, which has served billions of drivers over the past 85 years.”
In 2020, the MTA completed a significant project on the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, which improved the access to the Whitestone Expressway and Cross Island Parkway and added upgrades like a full-width right shoulder, new guide rails, a new LED roadway lighting system, and a new overhead sign structure.
