Goethal's Bridge ca. 1928
The opening of both Goethals Bridge and the Outerbridge Crossing between Staten Island and New jersey on June 29, 1928, was an important milestone for New York City's transportation system and signified the success of the newly-formed Port Authority. The bi-state planning agency had been developed to provide the legal and technical apparatus for proposing and construction inter-state transportation systems which, in 1921, were considered necessary to the continued vitality of the Port of New York. Funds for the Goethals and the Outerbridge (named for George Washington Goethals, chief engineer of the Panama Canal and the Authority's first consulting engineer, and Eugenics Outerbridge, the Authority's first chairman, respectively) were allocated in the spring of 1924. When the structures opened four years later, the Port Authority had already begun construction on the Bayonne and George Washington Bridges, two more inter-state projects. A little more than ten years after its compact was signed, the Port Authority had built four bridges and had purchased the Holland tunnel, for a total of $143 million raised through the sale of bonds to private citizens. (The Holland Tunnel, which runs beneath the Hudson River from Watts Street in Lower Manhattan to Jersey City, New Jersey, opened on November 13, 1927)
Mayor John Hyland of New York City was the initial advocate for the Goethal's Bridge and Outerbridge Crossing, which were intended to expedite movement between New Jersey and New York and anticipated the development of Staten Island as an integral part of New York's port system. Despite the bridge, and a modicum of industry, Staten Island remained heavily dependent on agriculture and its population grew at a much slower rate than the other boroughs. The underused bridges initially failed to generate their anticipated revenue. It was not until forty years later, about the time that the Verrazano Bridge opened, that these Staten Island-New Jersey connections had finally paid for their construction costs.
During the planning of these bridges, the national economy and New York's shipping business were booing. The Arthur Kill and Kill Van Kull, the creeks separating Staten Island from New Jersey, were carrying as much freight as the Suez Canal, causing the shipping industry to worry that two proposed bridges would obstruct these navigational channels. When a War Department study concluded that barges would fit between the support piers, construction began. Designer Waddell lamented that U.S. engineers were not trained as architects, accounting for the geometric, mechanical look of his bridges. In actuality, no funds had been allotted to enable their ornamentation.
