Othmar H. Ammann by Frank Griggs, Jr., Dist
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Great achievements notable structural engineers Othmar H. Ammann By Frank Griggs, Jr., Dist. M. ASCE, D. Eng., P.E., P.L.S. mmann was born on March As a result of the Quebec failure, Kunz had received a contract 26, 1879, in Schaffhausen, and Ammann wrote a report confirming to design three bridges Switzerland, the home of the the safety of the Queensboro Bridge and across the Willamette famous 18th century Grubenman its design. River. The Ross Island Awooden bridge. His family was of moderate Between 1909 and 1912, Ammann Bridge was a cantile- means with his father in manufacturing worked with the newly formed firm, Kunz ver, the Burnside and his mother in hat making. At an early & Schneider Consulting Engineers, in Bridge was a truss Othmar H. Ammann. age he showed an aptitude for mathematics Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One of their bridge with bascule® and began studying for a civil engineering major projects was an arch bridge across the span and the Sellwood Bridge a continuous degree at the Polytechnikum in Zürich, Reversing Falls at St. John, New Brunswick. truss. Each bridge was unique. Designed in Switzerland. He graduated in 1902. The In 1912, he was hired by Gustav Lindenthal 1922 to 1923, they were built between 1925 college, now named the Swiss Federal as his chief assistant on the design of the and 1926. Institute of Technology, was founded in Hell Gate Arch Bridge. Lindenthal was In 1923, when Ammann returned to the 1854 and was one of the leading schools selected as ChiefCopyright Engineer for the New York New York office of Lindenthal, work was of science and engineering at that time. Connecting Railroad, which included the proceeding on the Hudson River Bridge. He studied under Wilhelm Ritter who vis- Hell Gate Bridge, as well as Chief Engineer There were growing concerns that the ited the United States in 1893 to observe for a bridge across the Hudson River. The bridge was too large and the approaches engineering works and described them in Hell Gate Bridge was the longest span arch would take too much land and cost too his lectures. After graduating, Ammann bridge in the world at the time, and Ammann much. Lindenthal, however, was convinced worked on railroad layout and in 1903- was in charge of its design and construction, that a bridge of this size and at this location 04 he worked in Frankfurt, Germany on with David B. Steinman as his assistant. was absolutely necessary. Ammann went to reinforced concrete structures. In 1904, The threat of war in Switzerland resulted in Lindenthal suggesting that a smaller bridge Othmar came to the United States for Ammann returning to his homeland as an aimed primarily at automobiles and located what he thought would be a few years to Army Lieutenant in the summer of 1914. farther up the river would receive the nec- work on the major projects he had heard Lindenthalmagazine advanced Steinman to Ammann’s essary support from the city and states. about while in college. SHe fortunately T Rposition. TheU threatened C war didT not occur,U Lindenthal R accusedE Ammann of “timid- found a position with the Union Bridge and Ammann returned to his position and ity and shortsightedness”, and that he was Company under Charles Macdonald and Steinman was demoted. The shift resulted “looking ahead for 1,000 years.” On March his engineer Joseph Mayer. The company in a bitter rivalry between the two men until 23, 1923 Ammann left Lindenthal and set was building some of the major bridges in Ammann’s death. up his own office in New York City. the country, such as Macdonald’s proposal Lindenthal proposed a bridge across the He worked primarily on his own design for a 2,400-foot span cantilever railroad Hudson River as early as 1885. Due to financ- for the Hudson River Bridge with no client bridge across the Hudson River. With men- ing and other concerns, it never got past a to pay the bills. It would be at 179th Street tors like Mayer and Macdonald, Ammann groundbreaking in 1895. In 1920 he, with between Fort Lee (New Jersey) and Fort quickly learned the U.S. methods of build- Ammann’s design help, proposed a huge bridge Washington (New York), have a span of ing bridges fast and inexpensively. He then at 57th Street for railroads, motor vehicles and 3,500 feet and carry eight lanes of auto- moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania for a rapid transit costing in excess of $100,000,000. mobile and truck traffic. It would be built short time to work with the Pennsylvania Financing was slow, and Lindenthal and for under $40,000,000. He first proposed Steel Company under Frederick Kunz. Then Ammann, with Steinman’s help, designed the his design at a meeting of the Connecticut Othmar worked with Gustav Lindenthal as Sciotoville Continuous Truss bridge across the Society of Civil Engineers on February 19, Consulting Engineer to the Department of Ohio River. It was the longest span truss bridge 1924 and sent his plan to Governor Silzer Bridges in New York City. The Pennsylvania in the country at the time (1922). Lindenthal of New Jersey. Silzer sent Ammann’s draw- Steel Company was in the process of build- sent Ammann to Portland, Oregon where he ings and proposal to the press, including ing the Queensboro (Blackwell’s Island) The Engineering Record that published them Bridge at the time. Amman briefly returned with a small drawing and brief descrip- to Switzerland to marry Lilly Selma Wehrli tion in the January 3, 1924 issue. The and then returned to Harrisburg. He spent article mentioned the drawings were by a short time at McClintic/Marshall followed Ammann, and the bridge was estimated by a stint with Ralph Modjeski in Chicago to cost $30,000,000 and would connect working on bridges for the Oregon Trunk with the Washington Arch Bridge over Railroad, including a 340-foot span arch the Harlem River to provide “direct access bridge over the Columbia River. He assisted to the Bronx Borough and to highways C. C. Schneider in writing a report on the leading to New England without enter- Hell Gate Bridge, Lindenthal and Ammann. collapse of the Quebec Cantilever Bridge. ing New York’s intensive traffic area.” With STRUCTURE magazine42 April 2013 STRUCTURE magazine the support of New Jersey and New York, until 1951. This was followed by a survey of Ammann’s design was accepted and placed the Brooklyn Bridge in 1941. He reported under the Port Authority of New York the bridge was in excellent condition. He with Ammann designated as Chief Bridge was appointed chairman of a three man Engineer for the Authority. The bridge was commission, with Theodore VanKarman built between 1927 and 1931, and opened and Glenn Woodruff, to report on the October 24, 1931. failure of the Tacoma Narrows Suspension At the same time he was designing the bridge, designed by Leon Moisseff, which fell George Washington Bridge, Ammann was November 7, 1940 shortly after it opened. also designing the Bayonne Arch Bridge They found the long slender deck, designed over the Kill Van Kull leading to Staten using the deflection theory, was suscepti- Island. It was then the longest span arch ble to aerodynamic forces that led to the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. bridge in the world (1,652 feet). He also supervised construction of two bridges across the Arthur Kill, the Goethals and Outerbridge, both of which were designed ® by J. A. L. Waddell. In 1923, Othmar was appointed Chief Engineer of the Triborough Bridge Authority under the legendary Robert Moses. Moses planned a major project consisting of a 1,380-foot span suspen- Copyright sion bridge over the East River, 1,600 feet of truss bridge, a 770-foot long lift bridge and 3½ miles of viaduct. The project was built between 1934 and 1936. This was followed by the Bronx- Whitestone Bridge. It was a 2,300-foot span suspension bridge and opened in 1939 in time for the New York Worlds - For Advertiser ADVERTISEMENT Information, visit Fair. While designing these bridges, Ammann maintained his position with the New York Port Authority. At the magazine same time, he was one ofS the consul- T R U C T U R E tants to Joseph B. Strauss on the design and construction of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Strauss also consulted with Ammann on his George Washington and Bayonne Bridges. The www.STRUCTUREmag.org Golden Gate Bridge, with its 4,200-foot span, surpassed the George Washington Bridge by 700 feet to become the lon- gest suspension bridge in the world at the time. It opened in 1937. He also consulted with one of his early men- tors, Ralph Modjeski, on his Benjamin Franklin (originally the Delaware River) Suspension Bridge across the Delaware River that opened up July 1, 1926. Its 1,750 foot span was the longest in the United States at the time. In 1939, Ammann resigned from the Port Authority and set up a partnership with C. C. Combs, a well-known land- scape architect. Highway work made up most of their efforts in the first years. Their first bridge work was a pedestrian lift bridge to Ward’s Island in the East River. Ammann called this his “Little Green Bridge”. It had a lift span of 312 feet. Due to financing, it did not open April 2013 STRUCTURE magazine43 April 2013 ® George Washington Bridge 1931 to Present, Single deck shown. Copyright observed oscillation. With this information, commission rejected a tunnel but determined Ammann stiffened his Bronx-Whitestone a bridge was feasible.