Guardia, laid the cornerstone for the bridge's Bronx anchorage. Construction on the Bronx–Whitestone Bridge, along with several other road-improvement projects, was sped up so that the regional road network would be ready in time for the 1939 World's Fair. To ensure that the bridge would be completed before the fair opened, the cofferdam for the Bronx tower had to be finished in February 1938, followed by the Queens tower in April 1938. Moses anticipated that the bridge and connecting roads would need to be complete by June 1, 1939. The project also included the construction of the Flushing River Lift Bridge, a drawbridge over the Flushing River a few miles south of the Bronx–Whitestone Bridge. The four sections of each of the two suspension towers were assembled in only 18 days. The tower on the Bronx side was finished first, and in late May 1938, work began on the Queens tower. At the time, it was expected that the spinning of the suspension cables would begin that September. By the first week of July 1938, the TBA reported that both of the Bronx–Whitestone Bridge's towers were completed, and that the bridge was on schedule to open on April 30, 1939, ahead of schedule. In addition, the construction of connecting roadways on the Queens and Bronx sides of the bridge was being sped up. The Bronx side of the bridge would connect to the Hutchinson River Parkway, while the Queens side would connect to the Whitestone and Cross Island Parkways. The process of spinning the bridge's cables commenced in September 1938. The first cable, which contained 266 strands, was completed within a week. The suspender cables were completed within 41 days. That October, work started on the Cross Island Parkway approach to the bridge in Queens. The bridge's opening date was formalized in January 1939, and the last girder was installed on February 13, 1939. Afterward, the construction of the approach roads was sped up in anticipation of the 1939 World's Fair. During construction, one worker died when he fell off the bridge deck. There was another incident in August 1938 in which a 35-ton steel girder dropped from the side of the Whitestone Bridge, though no one was severely injured. Opening The Bronx–Whitestone Bridge opened on April 29, 1939, with Moses and La Guardia leading a ceremony of 4,000 people. Both the Whitestone and College Point neighborhoods had celebrations for