Wednesday, April 2, 2025 – OUR BRIDGES WERE THE SCENE OF MANY CAR CRASHES
On the Scene:
Eugene de Salignac’s
Photographs of Traffic Safety
Michael Lorenzini
Wednesday, April 2, 2025
New York City Municipal Archives
ISSUE #1416
Eugene de Salignac served as Photographer for the Department of Plant & Structures (originally the Department of Bridges) from 1906 to 1934. During this time, the agency took on many of the functions that would later be taken over by the Department of Transportation and the MTA. When I wrote New York Rises: Photographs by Eugene de Salignac (Aperture 2007), I included a chapter “Accidents.” In it I wrote: “An important part of de Salignac’s job seems to have been photographing accidents that occurred on or under New York bridges or that involved city-operated bus lines. These were documents made for the City’s Corporation Counsel to use in possible legal cases or to show needed repairs to damaged property. Often de Salignac arrived at the scene within minutes of the incident before passengers had even been evacuated.” What I did not cover in the book were the ways that the Plant & Structures agency tried to address the growing problem of traffic safety. This week’s “For the Record” takes another look at these photos.
BPS 8214: Williamsburg Bridge, view showing [electric] auto truck, south roadway between Bedford and Driggs Avenue, Brooklyn, June 5, 1923.
BPS 8215: Williamsburg Bridge, view showing [electric] auto truck, south roadway between Bedford and Driggs Avenue, Brooklyn, June 5, 1923.
BPS III 2022: Manhattan Bridge, view showing auto damaged by accident, February 23, 1924.
BPS 5880: Park Circle stage line accident 11:30 a.m., close view, December 6, 1919.
BPS 4974: Lenox Avenue Bridge 145th Street showing accident to auto, Bronx approach north side, July 10, 1917.
BPS 7226: Vernon Avenue Bridge view showing accident to auto truck, May 15, 1922.
BPS IV 1874: Queensboro Bridge, Queens view showing automobile accident, June 11, 1920.
BPS IV 2577: Queensboro Bridge showing accident to auto, May 22, 1933.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
OPENING DAY AT
CAFE AVIVA
WHAT A JOYFUL LOCATION FOR A CAPPUCINO!
CREDIT
All photographs above by Eugene de Salignac, Department of Bridges/Plant & Structures Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
Sources:
In 2014, Christopher Gray (a cherished and missed friend of this agency) wrote about the history of New York’s Traffic lights in his popular New York Times “Streetscapes” column:
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/18/realestate/a-history-of-new-york-traffic-lights.html
For more on the Bechers: https://spruethmagers.com/artists/bernd-hilla-becher/
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
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