1959
The Construction of the Harbor Bridge and
Mayor Albert Lichtenstein

The fifties were swept out with the completion of the Harbor Bridge in 1959. With the opening of the bridge, a long-standing fight finally ended. In 1954, then Mayor Albert Lichtenstien and the Chamber of Commerce strongly opposed a bridge over the Ship Channel. They instead urged the building of a tunnel under the channel. The debate was finally resolved when the State Highway Department made the decision to fund the bridge at the same time indicating it would not fund a tunnel that could trap toxic fumes or chemicals. Mayor Lichtenstien resigned as a result
of the controversy.