Gustav Lindenthal
Gustav Lindenthal (1850-1935) was a civil engineer who designed the Queensboro Bridge, Hell Gate Bridge in New York City, Sciotoville Bridge among other bridges.
Born in Brunn, Austrian Empire, now Brno, Czech Republic.
In 1888 Lindenthal proposed a design for a massive suspension bridge to cross the North River in New York. In 1889 Max am Ende wrote a criticism of the proposal[1], and suggested a through-arch bridge for the main span, with truss girder approach spans. During construction the half arches would be cantilevered from the springing points on the abutments, the growing cantilevered portion being restrained by cables taken over a tower and fixed to the first pier of the approach spans. An interesting aspect was that the approach girders would be utilised by tilting them to serve as struts between the main abutments and the cable anchor point. Lindenthal was unimpressed by this criticism, and responded in a letter to The Engineer [2], in which he addressed the points in detail, and questioned am Ende's knowledge and judgement.
Lindenthal's North River bridge was not built. It is interesting to note that his magnificent Hell Gate Bridge was a through-arch bridge, and he made temporary use of the steel approach span structures ro support the cantilevered half-arches during construction.