Out-Dated Vision

Gustav Lindenthal, a bridge engineer of great skill and superb aesthetic sensibilities, was the dean of American bridge engineers. Lindenthal imagined a bridge spanning the Hudson River in midtown that would be nothing less than a capstone of the entire transcontinental railroad, with an enormous new Manhattan station at its eastern terminus. He designed it to bear an astonishing load—six lanes of heavy rail traffic, four sets of track for lighter passenger trains, roadways for horse-drawn wagons, promenades for pedestrians. But Lindenthal's proposal, outrageously expensive and ambitious, died one painful death after another from the mid-1880s to the early 1900s.

<< 2 >>

A Tale of Two Rivers

How engineers contained and controlled the Colorado and Mississippi rivers.

Electric Nation

Thomas Edison lights up New York City; Sam Insull brings power to Chicago; and TVA electrifies rural America

Bridging New York

Constructing the George Washington Bridge

The Big Dig

Putting a major highway under Boston