I have not yet seen “Gateways To New York – Othmar H. Ammann And His Bridges” but I hope to soon. Ammann was a Swiss immigrant who led the design of some of New York’s largest bridges. By all accounts he was a reserved and calm man, which must have helped during his years of dealing with the Triboro Bridge and Tunnel Authority (and therefore Robert Moses) and the Port Authority of New York. Those two agencies did more to create the current highway grid in and around New York City than anyone or anything else.
Ammann’s first work as chief engineer was the 1931 George Washington Bridge, crossing the Hudson River between upper Manhattan and New Jersey. It had the longest main span in the world for six years, until the Golden Gate Bridge was built; it is today the most heavily travelled road bridge in the world. His last work, the 1964 Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge (seen above) at the entrance to New York harbor had the world’s longest main span until the Number Bridge was completed in 1981 in the UK. Ammann was also in charge of design for the Bayonne Bridge, constructed simultaneously with the George Washington, which was the longest arch bridge in the world from 1931 to 1977.
Those three bridges are only the record breakers, as Ammann was a junior engineer, the chief engineer or otherwise involved with many other projects. I hope the movie does him justice.
