RFK Triborough Bridge Anchor: Robert Moses's Transportation Colossus
Why is it significant?
Look up at the colossal steel towers and sweeping suspension cables of the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge, historically known and still affectionately called by locals as the Triborough Bridge.
Key Facts
| Place | RFK Triborough Bridge Anchor: Robert Moses's Transportation Colossus |
|---|---|
| Address | Hoyt Ave N & 19th St, Astoria, NY 11102, USA |
| Geo Coordinates | 40.77380, -73.92150 |
| Part of Walk | New York: Astoria Queens, Film Studios and Greek Tavernas |
| Generated | Generated |
Look up at the colossal steel towers and sweeping suspension cables of the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge, historically known and still affectionately called by locals as the Triborough Bridge. Completed in July 1936 during the Great Depression, this monumental engineering marvel was the crowning achievement of master urban planner Robert Moses. Spanning three rivers and connecting Manhattan, the Bronx, and Queens across fourteen miles of elevated highways and bridges, it was the largest public works project in American history at the time.
Gaze at the immense concrete anchorage block before you, calculated to anchor ninety-six million pounds of tension pulling on the massive main suspension cables. Over five thousand industrial workers poured one hundred and forty thousand cubic yards of concrete and erected sixty-seven thousand tons of structural steel to build this suspension span over the treacherous tidal waters of the East River. President Franklin D. Roosevelt traveled to this very park on July 11, 1936, to cut the ribbon before a jubilant crowd of fifty thousand citizens. The bridge stands as a monumental physical symbol of the transformative public works era that lifted the nation out of the Great Depression, fundamentally restructuring metropolitan transportation for millions of daily commuters.
The Triborough Bridge served as the fiscal engine that fueled Moses's vast public works empire for four decades. The millions of nickels and dimes collected in toll booths funded the construction of parkways, beaches, and dozens of public swimming pools across the five boroughs, fundamentally shaping the modern physical geography of metropolitan New York.
Walk beneath the monumental concrete approach viaducts, where public murals and shaded playgrounds now activate the cavernous spaces once reserved for construction staging.
Walk north along 19th Street into the rolling green hills and shoreline promenades of Astoria Park.