1930's Science and Technology | Engineering in Bridge Building

Great Structures.

The 1930s witnessed the construction and completion of some of the most famous bridges in the United States. Some incorporated novel experimental approaches, as in the case of the Rogue River Bridge in Gold Beach, Oregon. This structure, comprising seven 230-foot two-rib arch spans, employed pre-compression techniques developed in France earlier in the century and was completed in 1931. Other projects not only proved to be engineering challenges but captured public attention. Ideas about extending a new bridge from Manhattan directly into New Jersey over the Hudson River had been proposed since the 1890s but were bogged down in bureaucratic and political issues, ranging from concerns about hindering river traffic to engineering disagreements. Such disagreements still occur despite the successful completion and use of the George Washington Bridge. Thirty-five hundred feet long with a wire-cable suspension system,...