Manhattan Bridge from DUMBO - Brooklyn
This is a view of Manhattan Bridge from Washington Street in the DUMBO (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass) Neighborhood in Brooklyn. Originally an industrial and manufacturing district, DUMBO was home to factories and warehouses in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Starting in the late 20th century, artists and developers began transforming the old industrial buildings into lofts, galleries, and offices, leading to the neighborhood's revitalization and gentrification.
From this angle, the Empire State Building in Manhattan appears centered in the arch in the lower part of the Brooklyn-side tower. This is totally coincidental, as the ESB came a full two decades after the bridge.
The Manhattan Bridge was the problem child of New York City’s great East River bridges right from the time it was opened on New Years Day 1910. It was one of the first major suspension bridges to carry heavy subway tracks within its structure. The placement of the tracks near the outer edges of the bridge caused severe twisting and vibration whenever trains crossed, leading to decades of structural stress, cracked members, and continual maintenance problems. Beginning in the 1980s, engineers undertook a comprehensive reconstruction that strengthened the bridge and rebuilt the track structure to better distribute loads and reduce torsional forces. By the early 2000s, all four subway tracks had been restored to service, and the bridge's long-standing stability problems were largely resolved.
