History
The bridge was constructed from 1966 to 1969 at a cost of U.S.$54,742,000 by the Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade & Douglas company, also famous for engineering the modern New York City Subway and the Cape Cod Canal.
The bridge was renamed for U.S. Senator Claiborne Pell in 1992, but it is still commonly referred to as the Newport Bridge by residents and historians. The bridge is featured on the Rhode Island state quarter.
The first time that runners were allowed over the bridge was when a group of 300 runners ran over in the early 1980s in a half-marathon for Save The Bay. In the fall of 2011, the inaugural Citizens Bank Newport Pell Bridge Run was held which marked the first time in recent history that runners were allowed to cross the bridge (which was closed to traffic).
Bicycles are not permitted on this bridge, but Rhode Island Public Transit Authority bus #64 has bike racks for weekday and Saturday travel.
Read more about this topic: Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the Word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind.”
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809)
“What would we not give for some great poem to read now, which would be in harmony with the scenery,—for if men read aright, methinks they would never read anything but poems. No history nor philosophy can supply their place.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“In all history no class has been enfranchised without some selfish motive underlying. If to-day we could prove to Republicans or Democrats that every woman would vote for their party, we should be enfranchised.”
—Carrie Chapman Catt (1859–1947)