Big Apple History . Building the Big Apple . By Bridge and By Tunnel


	Looking along Atlantic Street, Brooklyn, c. 1865.

On any given weekday, there are 13 million people in Manhattan. But only 1.5 million live there. In other words, more than 11 million commuters pass over and under the waters surrounding the island every day.

Of course, they used to come on the water. More than 50 different ferries once offered service from Manhattan to Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and New Jersey. A few, like the Staten Island ferry, still operate today.

Once the Brooklyn Bridge was built in 1883, and people began traveling to and from New York City by trolley instead of by boat, a half-century of bridge and tunnel construction got underway. First came the Williamsburg Bridge (1903), then the Manhattan Bridge (1909), the Queensboro (1909), the George Washington (1931), and the Triborough bridges (1936). As all these bridges were built New York City increasingly became a place for cars and trains much more than for boats.

Construction on New York City's first railway tunnel, from Manhattan to New Jersey, began in 1874, but wasn't finished until 1908. While the first automobile tunnel, the Holland to Jersey City was constructed in 1927. Altogether, there are 18 bridges and 17 tunnels leading into and out of Manhattan. And at rush hour, they all seem to be jammed.

Illustration : Courtesy of the Brooklyn Historical Society and Roger Whitehouse.