While we celebrate the 125th birthday of our beloved Brooklyn Bridge can I just point out the lack of attention and respect paid to what I consider the workhorse of all the bridges into the lower part of the city, the Manhattan Bridge. The Brooklyn Bridge may be prettier, but I find it to be less convenient, more prone to accidents and the city approach is always backed up due to the absolutely useless police car that’s always blocking one lane. The Manhattan Bridge is rarely backed up, has two levels supporting many lanes of traffic (which can be configured according to need) and carries four subway lines (B,D,N,Q).
It’s similar to the constant attention the Golden Gate Bridge gets compared to the Bay Bridge… Ask anyone who has lived in the Bay which bridge is more important to the daily lives of area residents… The Golden Gate is pretty but pales in comparison when measuring the utility of the bridge.
Next year will be the 100th anniversary of the Manhattan Bridge. Hopefully it will be met with the same amount of fanfare.
The Manhattan bridge has lots of memories for me. I take the Q over it all the time – its my most favorite subway line for fast access to the city. I also trudged over this bridge twice, on september 11th, and the Black Out. Good times…
It might not be as pretty, but it’s always been there for me…..
Maybe we can get some cool fireworks next year!