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When the Triborough Bridge opened to traffic on July 11, 1936, it was one of the largest public works projects in the United States. Tying together Manhattan, the Bronx and Queens, it is a series of four bridges connected by a 17-mile network of highways and approach roads. More than any other structure, the Triborough unified the boroughs of New York City.
Local merchants from Astoria, Harlem and the Bronx originally petitioned for a three-borough bridge in 1916 to relieve the heavy traffic around the Queensboro Bridge, the only connection between Queens and Manhattan, other than ferries. By diverting traffic north of the Queensboro, the merchants hoped to attract more business to their districts.
Robert Moses, one of the most powerful figures in New York politics, had other ideas. He envisioned the Triborough as a central artery helping motorists bypass the congested streets of midtown Manhattan and Queens, providing a direct route to Long Island.
In 1934, with help from Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, Moses took control of the project. He obtained loans and grants totaling more than $44 million from the Public Works Administration, one of the New Deal agencies organized by President Franklin Roosevelt to combat the Great Depression. He also set up the Triborough Bridge Authority, an independent borrowing agency.
Moses constructed a l4-mile network of approach roads to connect the Triborough to the parkways he had built...