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biography
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Eleven major bridges unite
New York City together and with the rest of the nation. One engineer was
responsible for more than half of them, yet hardly anyone knows his name.
Othmar Ammann came to
America as a graduate of Swiss engineering schools and learned bridge
building from the reigning bridge engineer, Gustav
Lindenthal. As his protégé, Ammann worked on the Hell Gate Railroad
Bridge, an arch bridge of unprecedented strength and beauty. Lindenthal
had plans for an enormous rail bridge across the Hudson River, but they
were rejected as too expensive. Ammann proposed a lighter, less expensive
span for automobiles and trucks. In a painful parting, he left Lindenthal
and built the landmark George Washington Bridge, a span twice as long as
any suspension bridge in the world.
Ammann went on to build the
Bayonne, Triborough, Bronx-Whitestone, Throgs Neck and Verrazano Narrows.
All that commemorates his accomplishments is a modest bust in a bus
terminal at the east end of the George Washington Bridge. Ammann cared
little about honorifics. For him, the fact that his bridges were all built
on time and within budget was honor enough. |