Since the Verrazano Bridge was finished in 1964, I’ve been in John Paul Jones Park, at 4th Avenue and Shore Road-101st Street, perhaps hundreds of times, but never gave this object a second thought. I never inspected it up close, thinking it to be a storage tank of some kind.
It’s actually a suspension cable from the bridge itself. Since everyday pedestrians have been allowed on the bridge only once (in 1989, the bridge’s 25th anniversary — maybe 2014, the 50th?) and bicyclists and NYC marathoners once a year, it’s hard to be up close and se how massive these cables really are!
10/15/13
7 comments
The cable band you see is the smallest one used. It is used at the lowest point on the Main Cable.
About 45,000 pedestrians cross the bridge the First Sunday in November (well, except for last year) (NYC Marathon)
I recall as a teen seeing a section of the main suspension cables from the Verazzano Bridge, possibly the section in the photo, at the 1964-5 Worlds Fair. I dont recall if they had the suspender cables and saddle attached. This cable was 3′ diameter.
Yes – the section you refer to was actually on display outside the entry to the Queens Museum at least for a number of decades after the Fair as well. I haven’t been there for a while so don’t know if the Queens display is stil there. If not, then this one in Brooklyn is probably it. I’m sure to increasing numbers of people over the years it was a head-scratcher as to why there would be a piece of VZ cable in Queens. The obvious answer, the ’64 WF was a Robert Moses production, as was the VZ of about the same year.
How about an end view showing what’s inside?
There is no “inside”; it’s a crosscut: you see the ends of all the smaller cables, a few hundred twisted together. And its been painted a few times over the years.
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