Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge

Construction on The Empire State Building began on October 1, 1929 just a few weeks before the biggest stock market crash in United States history. On September 9, 1930, Al Smith the former Governor of New York, marked the spot of the cornerstone of what would become the worlds tallest and the century’s best building. That day Smith gave a speech to a crowd of over five thousand, which included mostly workers in hopes of a job on the upcoming project. The Empire State Building opened its doors just eight months later on Friday, May 1, 1931. For a country in midst of a great depression The Empire State Building was a symbol of hope in dark times and showed that Americans would persevere even in a

Also, the corrupt politicians in New York was a reality. Boss Tweed was running a political machine, and the public were the ones getting the raw deal. In a famous series of newspaper interviews George Plunkett explains the difference between "honest graft" and "dishonest graft."

In the small town of Waco, Texas who would have thought it was once well known for the structure of a bridge, the Waco Suspension Bridge to be exact. Up until 1870, the Brazos River was just a simple river that had no special meaning to it. The land around it was empty, occasionally you would find cattlemen pushing their cattle across stream, but that was only because you could not find one bridge that spanned the eight hundred miles of river flowing through Central Texas. This caused a serious transportation issue for merchants and travelers. It became clear that a better means of crossing the river was necessary.

He a brawler and school dropout. He became foreman of the Big Six Fire Engine Company (not was first elected to the Board of Aldermen, and then to Congress. He rose through the political ranks and over time gained control of Tammany Hall's political machine and was able to control all of the Democratic New York state and city nominations from 1860 to 1870. Although Tweed and his crooked compadres, the infamous "Tweed Ring" , were corrupt and plundered public funds, some of the projects, such as improved water supplies and sewage disposal, benefited New Yorkers. William Tweed's graft, brought to the public's attention by the cartoonist Thomas Nast, eventually caused his downfall and he died in jail in 1878.

The Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel (HRBT) is 3.5 miles long crossing for Interstate 64 which connects the South Hampton Roads cities of Norfolk and Virginia Beach with the Peninsula cities of Hampton and Newport News. One of the world’s first submerged tunnels connected to a man-made island. The HRBT was pristinely opened in 1957 superseding vehicular ferries that operated between Norfolk on the Southside, Hampton and Newport News on the Peninsula. The HRBT was tolled from 1957 until the second span opened in 1976, and the tolls were abstracted (Kozel, 1997). The James River Bridge (JRB) is 4.5 miles and Virginia’s longest state-maintained bridge; it opened in 1928 as

One of the few people that were going to fully push for this project would be William Tweed, a New York politician that was said to have a hand in every creek and crevice of business in the area of New York both legal and otherwise. Tweed began his career in 1851 by going from a simple fireman into an alderman and from then on he found that he no longer had to depend on honest work from then on and by 1869 or the time when the bridge would start to be build and the same year that its very own author of the great bridge would sacrifice his life for the sake of both his own pride and according to some accounts, the bridge’s success. By 1869, he was reaching the pinnacle of his influence as he was in his prime and doing everything that he set his mind to and this was when he would become the “Boss” of New York and from then on become known as Boss Tweed and he might as well been since judges made decisions based on his request, legislators passed or opposed laws at his will, and both the Mayor and Governor were in his pockets and were at his beck call. This was the Tweed Machine and it controlled every aspect of politics and was the epicenter

Suspension bridges were important before 1940 and are still important today. Major cities such as San Francisco, and Manhattan both have a suspension bridge. Suspension bridges are,” a bridge having a deck suspended from cables anchored at their extremities and usually raised on towers” (dictionary.com). Due to the fact that suspension bridges are not completely supported throughout the length of the bridge, past bridges were unsafe. For example, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge was a suspension bridge opened on July 1st, 1940 (Mark Ketchum). This bridge marked a huge point in suspension bridge safety and engineering, because in collapsed approximately four months after it was opened (Parsons). The collapse caused such a shock, that suspension

Since then, I have taken the Queensboro Bridge hundreds of times. Spanning across the East River and looking out onto the city skyline, the bridge still serves the same purpose today, as it did in 1909 when it was first opened. To most people, it looks like any other bridge, but to me, it’s like watching parts of an ecosystem work together as people bike, walk, and drive across and around it.

deliberately focus on developing our skills, then the results will come if we put in the time. It is really at its core, just producing a volume of work in order for us to get the failures out of the way on to extricating the gems.

Maintains clear detailed records of meetings and events that take place during the construction process.

In 1919, a study was begun to see if it would be possible to build a bridge across the Golden Gate. Michael O’Shaughnessy was the San Francisco city engineer. He was in charge of the rebuilding of the city after the devastating 1906 earthquake that destroyed much of the city. O’Shaughnessy knew the need for the city to have bridges. Most said it could not be done and others said it could be done but “it would cost about $100 million to build it” (Barter 23). O’Shaughnessy and Strauss, both wanting the same thing, got together. After the two consulted, they figured the only way to bridge the channel was to use a suspension bridge.

The current Bay Bridge spans across the San Francisco Bay and through Yerba Buena Island. The reason the bridge travels through an island is because in the 1930’s it would have been nearly impossible to construct an eight mile long bridge spanning such deep water. During most of the 20th century, this island was a U.S. Navy base and in order for construction to be allowed, the approval of Congress was necessary. As a result, there was a great deal of lobbying that occurred in order to allow California the right to build across the island. After gaining the approval of Congress in February of 1931, construction started in July of 1933.

Many of the men working on the bridge knew each from previous jobs around the city or drinking at the Old Vic, the Blarney and the Commercial. Some played in the same soccer or football league or stood next to each other at a Bulldogs games or at the cricket; there were blokes who knew each other from school, from the neighbourhood.

Since it was built, the Empire State Building has been attracting millions of tourists every year. This building is not only a national landmark and icon of New York City but a symbol of man’s attempt to achieve the impossible. The skyscraper is also the star in many movies such as An Affair to Remember, Sleepless in Seattle and King Kong. It stands out among the city’s skyline so people arriving by air, sea, or land can always pick out its distinctive shape (Britton 4). The Empire State Building is considered one of the eight wonders of the world and the people, the purpose, the construction, and the difficulties that went along with this wonder all started with a race to the sky.

bridges: the Vasco da Gama bridge in Lisbon (Portugal) and the Rion-Antirion bridge, near Patras