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The {{not a typo|Verrazano}} Bridge was the last project designed by Ammann, who had designed many of the other major crossings into and within New York City. He died in 1965, the year after the bridge opened.<ref>{{cite news|title=Othmar Ammann, Engineer, Is Dead; Designed Verrazano Bridge and Triborough Span|work=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|date=September 24, 1965|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1965/09/24/archives/othmar-ammann-engineer-is-dead-designed-verrazano-bridge-and.html|access-date=March 16, 2018|archive-date=June 27, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180627154706/https://www.nytimes.com/1965/09/24/archives/othmar-ammann-engineer-is-dead-designed-verrazano-bridge-and.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The {{not a typo|Verrazano}}-Narrows Bridge was also the last great [[public works]] project in New York City overseen by Moses.<ref>{{cite news|last=Barron|first=Ann Marie|title=Robert Moses: Master Planner Saw Verrazano-Narrows Bridge as Crucial Link for Commerce|website=Staten Island Advance|date=November 13, 2014|url=https://www.silive.com/news/2014/11/moses_fingerprints_will_foreve.html|access-date=March 16, 2018|archive-date=March 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317040329/http://www.silive.com/news/2014/11/moses_fingerprints_will_foreve.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The urban planner envisioned that the {{not a typo|Verrazano}} and Throgs Neck Bridges would be the final major bridges in New York City for the time being, since they would complete the city's expressway system.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/06/24/archives/moses-sees-close-of-bigbridge-era-narrows-and-throgs-neck-to-be.html|title=Moses Sees Close Of Big-Bridge Era; Narrows And Throgs Neck To Be Last Here, He Says Moses Sees Close Of Big-Bridge Era|date=June 24, 1957|work=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=March 14, 2018|archive-date=March 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180315003652/https://www.nytimes.com/1957/06/24/archives/moses-sees-close-of-bigbridge-era-narrows-and-throgs-neck-to-be.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
===Later years===
Although the bridge was constructed with only one six-lane roadway, Ammann had provided extra trusses to support a potential second roadway underneath the main deck.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://fultonhistory.com/highlighter/highlight-for-xml?altUrl=http%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FNewspaper%252010%2FYonkers%2520NY%2520Herald%2520Statesman%2FYonkers%2520NY%2520Herald%2520Statesman%25201963%2520%2520Grayscale%2FYonkers%2520NY%2520Herald%2520Statesman%25201963%2520%2520Grayscale%2520-%25201091.pdf|title=Work Rushed On Bridge to Staten Island|agency=[[Associated Press]]|date=February 5, 1963|work=Yonkers Herald Statesman|access-date=March 14, 2018|page=3|via=[[Fultonhistory.com]]|archive-date=April 7, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240407181909/https://fultonhistory.com/highlighter/highlight-for-xml?altUrl=http%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FNewspaper%252010%2FYonkers%2520NY%2520Herald%2520Statesman%2FYonkers%2520NY%2520Herald%2520Statesman%25201963%2520%2520Grayscale%2FYonkers%2520NY%2520Herald%2520Statesman%25201963%2520%2520Grayscale%2520-%25201091.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> These trusses, which were used to strengthen the bridge, were a design alteration that was added to many bridges in the aftermath of the [[Tacoma Narrows Bridge (1940)|Tacoma Narrows Bridge]] collapse in 1940.<ref name="Talese Book" />{{Rp|45}} The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge became so popular among motorists that in March 1969, the TBTA decided to erect the lower deck<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1969/03/31/archives/narrows-bridge-to-get-2d-deck-in-midjune.html|title=Narrows Bridge to Get 2D Deck in Mid-June|last=Ingraham|first=Joseph C.|date=March 31, 1969|work=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=March 16, 2018|archive-date=March 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317103113/https://www.nytimes.com/1969/03/31/archives/narrows-bridge-to-get-2d-deck-in-midjune.html|url-status=live}}</ref> at a cost of $22{{nbsp}}million.<ref name="Caro 1974" />{{rp|1130}} The Verrazzano Bridge had not been expected to carry enough traffic to necessitate a second deck until 1978, but traffic patterns over the previous five years had demonstrated the need for extra capacity. By contrast, a lower deck on the George Washington Bridge, connecting New Jersey and Upper Manhattan, had not been built until 31 years after the bridge's 1931 opening.<ref name="nyt19690629">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1969/06/29/archives/2d-level-of-verrazano-bridge-opens-11-years-ahead-of-plan.html|title=2d Level of Verrazano Bridge Opens 11 Years Ahead of Plan|last=Schumach|first=Murray|date=June 29, 1969|work=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=March 17, 2018|archive-date=November 2, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102193012/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20611FA3D5D1A7B93CBAB178DD85F4D8685F9|url-status=live}}</ref> The new six-lane deck opened on June 28, 1969.<ref name="nyt19690629" /> Originally, the Verrazzano Bridge's Brooklyn end was also supposed to connect to the planned [[Cross-Brooklyn Expressway]], [[New York State Route 878]], and [[John F. Kennedy International Airport|JFK Airport]], but the Cross-Brooklyn Expressway project was canceled in 1969.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1969/07/17/archives/mayor-drops-plans-for-express-roads-across-2-boroughs-mayor.html|title=Mayor Drops Plans For Express Roads Across 2 Boroughs; Mayor Abandons Plans for Expressways Across Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan|last=Carroll|first=Maurice|date=July 17, 1969|work=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=March 17, 2018|archive-date=March 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180315135955/https://www.nytimes.com/1969/07/17/archives/mayor-drops-plans-for-express-roads-across-2-boroughs-mayor.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
On June 26, 1976, to celebrate the United States' 200th anniversary, workers placed a very large U.S. flag on the side of the Verrazzano Bridge.<ref name="nyt19760626" /> The flag, which measured {{convert|193|by|366|ft|abbr=on}},<ref name="Perez 1980" /> was described in ''The New York Times'' as being the size of "a football field and a half"<ref name="nyt19760626">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/06/26/archives/bigflag-story-unfurls-on-verrazano-bridge.html|title=Big-Flag Story Unfurls On Verrazano Bridge|last=Burks|first=Edward C.|date=June 26, 1976|work=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=March 17, 2018|archive-date=March 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317233900/https://www.nytimes.com/1976/06/26/archives/bigflag-story-unfurls-on-verrazano-bridge.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and billed as the world's largest flag.<ref name="nyt19760629">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/06/29/archives/bridge-flag-falls-victim-to-the-wind.html|title=Bridge Flag Falls Victim To the Wind|date=June 29, 1976|work=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=March 17, 2018|archive-date=March 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317232505/https://www.nytimes.com/1976/06/29/archives/bridge-flag-falls-victim-to-the-wind.html|url-status=live}}</ref> At the time, it was the largest U.S. flag ever made.<ref name="Caplan 2015" /> The flag was supposed to withstand wind speeds of {{Convert|30|mph|kph}}, but it ripped apart three days later, when there was a wind speed of {{Convert|16|mph|kph|abbr=on}}.<ref name="nyt19760629" /> The flag had been stuck against the bridge's suspender cables, so any slight wind would have caused the cables to make tears in the flag.<ref name="Perez 1980" /> A second flag was created in 1980 for the July 4 celebration that year. This flag was even larger at {{convert|411|by|210|ft|abbr=on}} (an area of {{convert|71,000|ft2|m2|abbr=on}}). The new flag was placed along a steel grid so that the suspender cables would not rip it apart.<ref name="Perez 1980">{{cite news|first=Miguel|last=Perez|work=[[New York Daily News|Daily News]]|location=New York|via=Newspapers.com|date=February 3, 1980|page=334|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24382799/this_time_old_glory_wont_be_seeing/|title=This Time, Old Glory Won't Be Seeing Stars|access-date=October 9, 2018|archive-date=October 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181009092839/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24382799/this_time_old_glory_wont_be_seeing/|url-status=live}}</ref> Architectural critic [[Ada Louise Huxtable]] derided the new flag as a "simple-minded, vainglorious proposal" and asked, "Does anyone really want to spend $850,000 to upstage the Statue of Liberty?"<ref>{{cite news|title=Flag Flap Turns Critics Red|work=The Star-Gazette|location=Elmira, NY|page=13|via=Newspapers.com|date=March 18, 1980|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24383069/flag_flap_turns_critics_red/|access-date=October 9, 2018|archive-date=October 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181009052807/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24383069/flag_flap_turns_critics_red/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Huxtable|first=A.L.|title=On Architecture: Collected Reflections on a Century of Change|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|year=2010|isbn=978-0-8027-7760-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t2nDO99m5-cC&pg=PA423|access-date=October 9, 2018|page=423|archive-date=April 7, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240407182408/https://books.google.com/books?id=t2nDO99m5-cC&pg=PA423#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>
The TBTA stopped collecting tolls for Brooklyn-bound drivers on the Verrazzano Bridge in 1986 and doubled the toll for Staten Island-bound drivers.<ref name="NYTimes-OneWayTolls-1986" /> This was a result of a bill introduced by [[Guy V. Molinari]], the U.S. representative for Staten Island, as part of an initiative to reduce traffic that accumulated at the toll booth on Staten Island.<ref name="NYTimes-VerrazanoTolls-1985" /> The one-way toll was initially intended to be part of a six-month pilot program,<ref name="NYTimes-TollExpEndsToday-1986" /> but resulted in permanent changes to traffic flows on the Verrazzano Bridge. The crossing saw more Brooklyn-bound traffic and less Staten Island-bound traffic as a result.<ref name="Gold 1990" /> This unidirectional collection remained in effect through 2020, when two-way tolls were restored.<ref name="ABC7 New York 2020">{{cite web | title=Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge goes back to 2-way tolling after 34 years | website=ABC7 New York | date=December 1, 2020 | url=https://abc7ny.com/8413924/ | access-date=December 1, 2020 | archive-date=December 1, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201201171105/https://abc7ny.com/8413924/ | url-status=live }}</ref>
Workers began various improvements to the crossing in 1998 and finished repairs to the bridge's anchorages and electrical systems in 2002. The next year, workers finished repainting the bridge.<ref name="nyc roads">{{cite web | title=Verrazano-Narrows Bridge (I-278) | website=NYCRoads | date=August 13, 1959 | url=http://www.nycroads.com/crossings/verrazano-narrows/ | access-date=July 18, 2024}}</ref> In addition, a major project to clean and repaint both of the decks (mostly the bottom deck) took place between 2004 and 2008.<ref name="nyc roads"/> Beginning in 2008, all 262 of the [[Mercury-vapor lamp|mercury vapor]] fixtures in the bridge's necklace lighting were replaced with energy-efficient [[light-emitting diode]]s. This retrofit was completed in 2009, years before LED street lights were installed in the rest of the city.<ref>{{cite press release|publisher=[[MTA Bridges and Tunnels]]|date=October 29, 2009|title=Verrazano–Narrows Bridge LED Necklace Lights Add "Green" Sparkle to New York Harbor Entrance|url=http://www.mta.info/press-release/bridges-tunnels/verrazano-narrows-bridge-led-necklace-lights-add-green-sparkle-new|access-date=February 21, 2010|archive-date=January 7, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150107180445/http://www.mta.info/press-release/bridges-tunnels/verrazano-narrows-bridge-led-necklace-lights-add-green-sparkle-new|url-status=live}}</ref>
The [[#Naming|Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge's name]] was originally spelled with one "z". The "{{not a typo|Verrazano}}" name dates to 1960 when governor Rockefeller had signed the bill authorizing the bridge's name as such.<ref name="nyt19600310" /> A bill to formally change the bridge's name to the variant with two "z"s was introduced by college student Robert Nash in 2016,<ref name="CNY-NashPetition-2016" /> but it stalled in early 2018.<ref name="AP-AnotherZ-2018" /><ref name=Bascome2018/> The New York State Senate voted to change the name of the bridge in June 2018,<ref name="AP-AnotherZ-2018" /> and the name change was officially signed into law that October.<ref name="Campanile 2018" /><ref name="AMNewYork-LongLostZ-2018" />
===2010s and 2020s improvements===
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