8. Building materials for the park had to be floated in
To build Four Freedoms Park, the developers had to get creative with their planning. Roosevelt Island Bridge, the only bridge connecting traffic to the island, has a weight limit of 36 tons, and the shipments of stone and other building materials would have vastly exceeded this limit. One solid granite block from The Room, the three sided chamber at the southern tip of the park, weighs just over 36 tons by itself. The solution? All materials were shipped in via barges, which were loaded up in New Jersey and sent down the East River for offloading by crane on either side of the island.