La Guardia said the bridge could carry up to 4,000 cars per hour in each direction. Within the first two months of the Bronx–Whitestone Bridge's opening, it had carried just over a million vehicles, and the bridge was collecting an average of $4,232 a day in tolls. In 1940, the American Institute of Steel Construction recognized the Bronx–Whitestone Bridge as the "most beautiful monumental steel bridge completed during the last year". Additionally, two parks were opened following the bridge's completion. A park under the Queens side of the Bronx–Whitestone Bridge, named for Declaration of Independence signatory Francis Lewis, was opened in 1940. On the Bronx side, the blueprint for Ferry Point Park had been developed in conjunction with the bridge's construction, and additional facilities were added in the early 1940s.
