Happy Birthday, Bridge!

In a simpler time, thousands stampeded to get over to Bayonne:

When the Bayonne Bridge opened 75 years ago today, people on both sides of the graceful new span over the Kill van Kull were so eager to be the first across that they nearly created a stampede.

One daring couple actually tried to cross via the catwalk above one of the arches and was escorted away by a waiting police officer, who then let them go.

To officially open the bridge, Bayonne Mayor Lucius Donohoe drove across in his 1928 Rolls Royce.

He was followed that day by 17,018 other vehicles and 6,933 pedestrians.

. . .

Fast forward three quarters of a century and the span “still has the novelty that it had the day it opened up,” said Bayonne Bridge Manager Jerry DelTufo.

Sightseers seek out the vistas from its walkways.

“It’s still a destination,” he said yesterday at an anniversary celebration in Bayonne’s Collins Park.

. . .

During yesterday’s festivities, Bayonne Mayor Joseph V. Doria Jr. pointed to the immigrant roots on both sides of the bridge. To demonstrate the city’s Dutch heritage, 75 red, white, and blue tulip bulbs will be planted in Collins Park.

“Walls keep us apart,” he said, “but bridges bring us together.”

Location Scout: Bayonne Bridge.