Editing Hell Gate Bridge (section)

==== Steelwork and completion ====
Steel girders and plates for the Little Hell Gate and Bronx Kill spans were being installed by late 1914.<ref name="n142397488" /> The girders under the two center tracks were installed first. Afterward, the center tracks were laid, and a derrick car and a [[Crane (rail)|locomotive crane]] were placed on opposite spans. The derrick car delivered girders that had already been riveted together, and the locomotive crane installed the girders for the outer tracks.<ref name="RAG1915 pp. 422–423">{{harvnb|Railway Age Gazette|1915|ps=.|pages=422–423}}</ref> The arched main span above Hell Gate was technically challenging because Hell Gate was a navigable waterway, and the arch could not be constructed using [[falsework]].<ref name="RAG1914 p. 890" /><ref name="Ammann p. 1663" /> Consequently, massive temporary backstays were built behind both of the Hell Gate towers to [[cantilever]] the two pieces of the arch.<ref name="n142439586" /><ref name="RAG1915 pp. 423–424">{{harvnb|Railway Age Gazette|1915|ps=.|pages=423–424}}</ref><ref name="n142439289">{{Cite news |date=October 9, 1915 |title=Queens Borough |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/brooklyn-life-queens-borough/142439289/ |access-date=March 1, 2024 |work=Brooklyn Life |pages=24 |archive-date=March 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240301165225/https://www.newspapers.com/article/brooklyn-life-queens-borough/142439289/ |url-status=live}}</ref> To accommodate the backstays, the tops of the towers and some adjacent piers could not be completed until after the Hell Gate span was finished.<ref name="RAG1915 pp. 423–424" /><ref name="n142447894">{{Cite news |date=September 30, 1915 |title=Hell Gate Spans Quarter Inch Apart |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-brooklyn-daily-eagle-hell-gate-spans/142447894/ |access-date=March 1, 2024 |work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |issn=2577-9397 |pages=15 |archive-date=March 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240301185856/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-brooklyn-daily-eagle-hell-gate-spans/142447894/ |url-status=live}}</ref> After the backstays were constructed, movable derricks were installed atop the backstays.<ref name="RAG1915 p. 424">{{harvnb|Railway Age Gazette|1915|ps=.|page=424}}</ref>

One thousand workers and 40 engineers began installing the steelwork of the arch in November 1914;<ref name="n142448178">{{Cite news |date=July 20, 1915 |title=Biggest Bridge Half Finished |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/times-union-biggest-bridge-half-finished/142448178/ |access-date=March 1, 2024 |work=Times Union |pages=12 |archive-date=March 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240301185854/https://www.newspapers.com/article/times-union-biggest-bridge-half-finished/142448178/ |url-status=live}}</ref> many of the laborers were [[Mohawk people|Mohawk]] Native American ironworkers from Quebec and upstate New York.<ref name="n142958279">{{Cite news |last=Minthorn |first=David |date=August 18, 2002 |title=Exhibit celebrates Mohawks' high-rise feats |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/star-gazette-exhibit-celebrates-mohawks/142958279/ |access-date=March 8, 2024 |work=Star-Gazette |pages=28 |archive-date=March 8, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240308205902/https://www.newspapers.com/article/star-gazette-exhibit-celebrates-mohawks/142958279/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Work proceeded in two sections from either shore toward the middle of Hell Gate.<ref name="n142448178" /><ref name="p136977172">{{Cite magazine |date=October 13, 1915 |title=The Longest Steel Arch in the World |magazine=Outlook |page=346 |id={{ProQuest|136977172}}}}</ref> The main span consisted of 23 panels,<ref name="n142448178" /> which were installed by the derricks atop the backstays.<ref name="RAG1915 p. 424" /> The panels were composed of steel pieces that weighed as much as {{convert|185|ST|LT t}}.<ref name="p502726608" /><ref name="RAG1915 p. 423" /> The steel pieces were manufactured off-site<ref name="p556427259" /> and, at the time, were among the heaviest steel pieces ever manufactured.<ref name="n142410167">{{Cite news |last=Sewell |first=Edward Alden |date=October 10, 1915 |title=The Hell Gate Arch Becomes a Bridge |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-york-tribune-the-hell-gate-arch-beco/142410167/ |access-date=March 1, 2024 |work=New-York Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |pages=30 |archive-date=March 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240301165226/https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-york-tribune-the-hell-gate-arch-beco/142410167/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Each piece was delivered to the site via car floats, then transported up via derricks.<ref name="RAG1915 p. 424" /> To counteract sagging caused by the weight of the panels, both halves of the bridge occasionally had to be adjusted.<ref name="n142439586" /> The project as a whole was declared half-finished in July 1915.<ref name="n142448178" /> The last pieces of the lower chord were installed during the week of September 28 to October 4, 1915,<ref name="p879810718">{{Cite magazine |date=November 5, 1915 |title=Progress on the Hell Gate Bridge |magazine=Railway Age Gazette |page= |pages=865, 867 |volume=59 |issue=19 |id={{ProQuest|879810718}}}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=October 4, 1915 |title=Hell Gate Bridge: President Rea Congratulates the Engineer on the Completion of the Span |work=The Wall Street Journal |page=3 |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|129466847}}}}</ref> and both halves were officially joined on October 1.<ref name="p556427259" /><ref name="p548523866">{{cite news |date=October 1, 1915 |title=Ends of Hell Gate Bridge Joined: Big Steel Arch is Longest in the World |work=The Hartford Courant |page=17 |issn=1047-4153 |id={{ProQuest|548523866}}}}</ref> The gap between the two parts of the arch was just {{convert|5/16|in}}.<ref name="p556427259" /><ref name="p879810718" /> The extreme precision was attributed to the level of detail in the engineering drawings,<ref name="n142447894" /> as well as the use of highly precise surveying tools made by the [[W. & L. E. Gurley Company]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 11, 1994 |title=Gurley company was once the Tiffany of surveying tools |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/democrat-and-chronicle-gurley-company-wa/142946127/ |access-date=March 8, 2024 |work=Democrat and Chronicle |pages=13 |archive-date=March 8, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240308180813/https://www.newspapers.com/article/democrat-and-chronicle-gurley-company-wa/142946127/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

The completion of the arch made the Hell Gate span the longest steel arch in the world.<ref name="p548523866" /><ref name="p136977172" /> The hydraulic jacks were removed from the towers,<ref name="n142410167" /> and the backstays were disassembled and reused in the approach viaducts.<ref name="n142439289" /><ref name="p879810718" /> Workers began driving 400,000 rivets into the arched span;<ref name="p879810718" /> Lindenthal claimed that they were among the largest rivets ever used.<ref name="p556427259" /> Due to cold weather, the upper chord of the arch could not be riveted together until May 1916.<ref name="p556427259" /> Locomotive cranes constructed the remaining portions of the viaducts.<ref name="In 2024 q032" /> By mid-October 1916, the PRR and NH anticipated that passenger service would commence at the beginning of 1917.<ref name="nyt-1916-10-15">{{Cite news |date=October 15, 1916 |title=New Hell Gate Bridge; To be Opened to Traffic Early in January, 1917. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1916/10/15/archives/new-hell-gate-bridge-to-be-opened-to-traffic-early-in-january-1917.html |access-date=February 29, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=February 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240229225258/https://www.nytimes.com/1916/10/15/archives/new-hell-gate-bridge-to-be-opened-to-traffic-early-in-january-1917.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Finishing touches were placed on the bridge during late 1916.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=December 29, 1916 |title=A Review of Bridge Construction |magazine=Railway Age Gazette |pages=1165 |volume=61 |issue=26 |id={{ProQuest|886551104}}}}</ref> In total, the bridge cost $18.5 million.{{efn-lr|About ${{Inflation|index=US-GDP|start_year=1916|value=18.5|fmt=c}} million in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}{{Inflation/fn|US-GDP|group=lower-alpha}}}}<ref>{{harvnb|Ammann|1918|ps=.|page=1662}}</ref> Before the bridge's official opening, police forces patrolled it to prevent sabotage during World War I.<ref>{{cite news |date=February 5, 1917 |title=City Bridges Guarded by Naval Militia: Details Patrol the East River—machine Guns on Piers Water Supply System Watched Raids by Cranks Are Feared-secret Squads Protect Subway Naval Battalion Men on Guard on City's Bridges |work=New-York Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |page=1 |id={{ProQuest|575678692}} |postscript=none}}; {{Cite news |date=February 8, 1917 |title=Police May Relieve the National Guard; Special Service at Public Works Is Being Continued, However, by the State |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1917/02/08/archives/police-may-relieve-the-national-guard-special-service-at-public.html |access-date=March 1, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240301200606/https://www.nytimes.com/1917/02/08/archives/police-may-relieve-the-national-guard-special-service-at-public.html |url-status=live}}</ref>