Table 11.II.F

Bridges and Tunnels

• Bridges and Tunnels evolved from the Triborough Bridge Authority, a public benefit corporation created by the New York State Legislature in 1933 to build the Triborough Bridge when the city's attempts were halted by the Depression.
• Between 1934 and 1968, under the leadership of Robert Moses, the Authority grew in a series of mergers involving four other agencies: the Henry Hudson Parkway Authority, the Marine Parkway Authority, the New York City Parkway Authority, and the New York City Tunnel Authority.
• Robert Moses' years at Triborough coincided with the national era of public works construction for the automobile.
• The Authority's bridges and tunnels forged vital links among the city's boroughs, ultimately shaping regional travel and economic patterns.
• Triborough also built the Battery Parking Garage, the East Side Airlines Terminal, the Coliseum Office Building and Exposition Center, the Jacob Riis Beach Parking Field, and the Jacob Javits Convention Center, and it helped develop numerous parks around the city.
• By the 1960s the City was becoming choked by automobile congestion and pollution, and the need to restore long neglected subway, bus, and commuter rail systems became apparent.
• Accordingly, in 1968 the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority was made part of the MTA.
• Its surplus revenues, previously used to finance new projects for the automobile, were redirected to public transportation.
• Since that time, bridge and tunnel tolls have contributed more than $12 billion to subsidize fares and underwrite capital improvements for New York City Transit, the Long Island Railroad, and the Metro-North Railroad.
• MTA Bridges and Tunnels serve more than a million people and over 800,000 vehicles daily.
• It carries more traffic than any other bridge and tunnel authority in the nation.
• Its facilities are the:

Bridges
1. Triborough Bridge
2. Throgs Neck Bridge
3. Verrazano-Narrows Bridge
4. Bronx-Whitestone Bridge
5. Henry Hudson Bridge
6. Marine Parkway Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge
7. Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge
Tunnels
1. Brooklyn Battery Tunnel
2. Queens Midtown Tunnel