Published in the Gateway Guide, a travel magazine. (Click on link below to read story)
New Jersey's Greatest Bridges
A passage to history and grand achievements
Winter 2005/2006
by Christina M. Hinke
Cover Story for Gateway Guide
The bridges of New Jersey have long been an inspiration to poets, artists and architects for their beauty and advanced engineering.
Many of the large bridges in the Garden State were built during the period from 1919 to 1936, termed "the golden age of highway building" by historian Bruce Seeley. It was the post-war era, and convenient transportation for goods and people was necessary.
New Jersey is an East Coast hub of transportation, centrally located between New York and Philadelphia, so it was in need of great bridges. And economy was not the only factor in bridge design.
"Economics and utility are not the engineer's only concerns," declared New Jerseyean Othmar H. Ammann, who was the chief engineer for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, in 1958. "In fact, an engineer designing a bridge is justified in making a more expensive design for beauty's sake alone. ... Few of us appreciate an eyesore, even if we should save a little money."
Many in New Jersey have the luxury of seeing Ammann's momentous designs and those bridges that reflect his vision. (read more)
