Canal St, Chinatown

The Manhattan Bridge is the last of the suspension bridges to be built across the lower part of the East River, after the Brooklyn Bridge and the Williamsburg Bridge. On the Manhattan side it feeds into Canal Street, and on the Brooklyn side it lands in the area now known as DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), a former warehousing district that was recently overtaken by artists and now has become gentrified. The bridge sees car traffic on two levels, though it is one of the bridges where no toll is charged. It also houses the tracks to the B, D, Q, and N trains. The presence of the train tracks is an important difference to the Brooklyn Bridge, since it makes the Manhattan particularly loud and uninviting to pedestrian and bike traffic. The walkway and bike-way were closed for more than sixty years and didn't re-open until 2001.

Fun fact: the designer of the Manhattan Bridge later designed the infamous original version of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which opened and then promptly collapsed in 1940. Wacky fact: there was an underground vogue in the late nineties, while the bridge was closed to pedestrians, for covert bungee jumping. People would sneak through the construction blocks at night carrying their jumping equipment, do a quick jump, and then clear out as quickly as possible, before the cops came. This is not an urban legend, apparently. Even wackier fact: it is illegal to jump from the bridge, for bungee jumping or for any other reason, so if you try to kill yourself and by some great luck survive the fall, in addition to the many other consequences you'll incur, such as severe injuries and a mandatory stay in a psychiatric ward, you will also be arrested and charged.