New York City Department of Bridges

The New York City Department of Bridges was a municipal government agency that administered the planning, construction, management, and maintenance of bridges in New York City. The department was created in 1898 with the consolidation of Greater New York, and it operated as one of six co-equal branches of the New York City Board of Public Improvements.^[1][2] It was later merged with the Department of Public Works in 1916 to form the Department of Plant & Structures.^[3] Its present-day successor is the New York City Department of Transportation.

Prior to the Department's formation, the work of building and managing transportation infrastructure in the Greater New York area was generally overseen by county-level Boards of Supervisors^[4] and their associated Highway Commissioners.^[5] When the city was consolidated under a singular charter in 1898, responsibility for all bridge crossings (including minor roadway spans in the outer boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens) was also consolidated–much to the disagreement of existing highway commissioners.^[6]