- City:
- Grand Island, NY
- Site Type:
- Infrastructure and Utilities, Roads, Bridges, and Tunnels
- New Deal Agencies:
- Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), Public Works Funding
- Started:
- 1933
- Completed:
- 1935
Description
What is now the northbound span of the North Grand Island Bridge (as well as the southbound span of the South Grand Island Bridge) was constructed as a New Deal project in 1933-5, funded by a Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) loan.
“The Swartz bill, drafted by Commissioner Robert Moses, state representative of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, passed the Legislature in 1933. This measure paved the way for the $2,880,000 loan from the R. F. C. Robert Moses became an enthusiastic supporter of the bridge. Former Governor Alfred E. Smith gave his active support to the project, as did Speaker Joseph A. McGinnus. The ground was broken for the south bridge on October 28, 1933. At long last, in early July 1935, the bridges were completed. After more than a century of talk and discussion Grand Island was connected to the mainland of the United States, not by one, but by two bridges.”
Source notes
The New York Times: "REVIVAL AT NIAGARA: Developments at Grand Island Adding to Accessibility and Beauties of Area," July 14, 1935 (pg. 140)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Grand_Island_Bridge
https://www.isledegrande.com/gihist.htm (accessed Apr. 2018)
Site originally submitted by Evan Kalish on April 3, 2018.
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