Scrabble?! VERRA

Definitions of VERRA in various dictionaries:

The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge (also referred to as the Verrazano Bridge and formerly the Narrows Bridge) is a double-decked suspension bridge that connects the New York City boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn and is named for Giovanni da Verrazzano. It spans the Narrows, a body of water linking the relatively enclosed Upper New York Bay with Lower New York Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The bridge carries thirteen lanes of Interstate 278, with seven lanes on the upper level and six on the lower level. In 1524, da Verrazzano became the first documented European explorer to enter New York Harbor and the Hudson River. Because of a naming error, the bridge's name is spelled with only one "z", despite the explorer's name having two "z"s.Engineer David B. Steinman first proposed a bridge across the Narrows in 1927. Subsequent proposals of vehicular crossings across the Narrows were deferred over the next twenty years. A 1920s attempt to build a rail tunnel across the Narrows was aborted, as was another 1930s plan for vehicular tubes underneath the Narrows. Discussion of a tunnel resurfaced in the mid-1930s and early 1940s, but were again denied. In the late 1940s, urban planner Robert Moses championed a bridge across the Narrows as a way to connect Staten Island with the rest of the city. Various issues delayed the start of construction until 1959. The bridge opened on November 21, 1964, and a second deck beneath the existing span was opened in June 1969. The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge has a central span of 4,260 feet (1,298 m). It was the longest suspension bridge in the world from 1964 until it was surpassed by the Humber Bridge in the United Kingdom in 1981. The bridge has the 13th longest main span in the world, as well as the longest in the Americas. The bridge marks the gateway to New York Harbor. All ships arriving at the Port of New York and New Jersey pass underneath the bridge and must therefore be built to accommodate the clearance under it.