Whitestone Bridge ca. 1939

When the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge was completed on April 29, 1939, its 2300-foot span across the East River earned it acclaim as the fourth largest suspension bridge in the world. Replacing the earliest Clason Point Ferry, it was designed primarily for automobiles in order to alleviate Bronx-Queens traffic on the Triborough Bridge. Originally accommodating four traffic lanes and two pedestrian lanes, the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge today features six automobile lanes and has no sidewalks. By the late 1950s, congestion on the Bronx-Whitestone necessitated the construction of the Throgs Neck Bridge, which was completed in 1961.

Robert Moses, Chairman of the New York State Public Works Commission and of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, was determined that the Bronx-Whitestone open on time for the April 30th inauguration of the 1939 World's Fair in Flushing Meadows, meaning that work on the bridge proceeded very quickly after the awarding of the first construction contract. In fact, the structure opened 60 days ahead of schedule, the day before the Fair began. The bridge complemented the Fair's theme of "The World of Tomorrow" aesthetically with its emphasis on simplicity and sleekness, and practically by accommodating automobiles. The combination of the Fair and the bridge also helped to rejuvenate the Flushing section of Queens, which was beautified for the Fair and made more accessible by the bridge. Today, Flushing remains a major recreational area. The bridge's engineer, Othmar H. Amman, was known for the elegant lines and simplicity of his designs. HE achieved this aesthetic by stabilizing the bridge with beam-like girders, replacing the bulkier-looking interconnected trusses favored by earlier engineers. In reaction to public apprehension after the Tacoma Narrows bridge collapsed in 1940, Amman further stabilized the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge with trusses and added more cables from the towers to the roadway. Although these additions slightly reduced the visible lightness of the bridge, they increased its steadiness.

Prior to the construction of the Bronx-Whitestone, the Triborough, five miles west, was the only vehicular connection between The Bronx and Queens. With the opening of the newer bridge, access to the 1939-40 World's Fair was enhanced; when the fair closed the following year, the Whitestone continued to provide a link between the Cross Island Parkway and the Whitestone Expressway in Long Island and the Hutchinson River Parkway, an important link north through The Bronx to New England. (Later the Bruckner Expressway and the Cross Bronx Expressway, joined this network.) In the post World War II years, this complex system of roadway and bridges expedited the rapid suburbanization of Long Island and southern Westchester County.