Do NYC bridges move?

I have always been very curious about NYC bridges and tunnels. I’ve always been curious as to how they were built, when they were constructed and how safe they really are. One day while crossing over the Manhattan Bridge; I thought to myself “how secure is this bridge”. I saw trains, heavy traffic, bikes and people walking on it. If bridges constantly move from side to side to help keep there balance, how can we believe that this is a secure way of transportation. My focus is to find answers to the following questions, Do NYC Bridges move? and How safe are NYC bridges?



There are several things that I am doing to reach the answers to my questions. Mainly I’ve been focusing on researching things on the internet on what other people believe and what engineers have to say on the subject. At the same time I’ve been looking closely at the patterns on the bridges. I believe this similarity can lead me to a more unanimous answer.

My next steps for this inquiry is to interview people that bike, drive and walk constantly on any of NYC’s bridges. I’ll ask them about how safe they feel going over these bridges? Have they seen anything uncommon during there ride? Do they believe that NYC bridges move and/or why? At the same time I want to obtain information from experts on the field; by looking for answers given by engineers and officials of NYC safety.


I found several sources that are relevant to my inquiry process. While doing some research online I came across this video that shows how in one minute and fifty-eight seconds how the Manhattan Bridge sways up and down because of the heavy traffic. See it yourself and than decide whether or not you will go over this bridge again?



While looking at this video, I found a response for the swaying of the bridge given by a Columbia University Engineer.



I also found this Blog that discusses the issues that has been raised after looking into this video

http://secondavenuesagas.com/2009/07/28/the-swaying-manhattan-bridge/

On the New York City Department of Transportation website we are also able to find more concrete information as to how the bridges were built, rehabilitation or reconstructions that are being done on the bridges.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/bridges/bridges.shtml

Now I am curious to know how safe is my daily commute over the Williamsburg bridge?