Staten Island Staten Island, once called Richmond, looks almost empty in comparison to the metropolitan congestion in the other boroughs. Its 56 square miles square miles hold a mere 350,000 people. But the population has increased since 19100, when a connecting bridge to Brooklyn opened. And what a connection, until 1981 the world's longest suspension bridge! The increasing population has set off a real estate boom and put strain on the Staten Island Ferry, still a popular way to get to Manhattan- and still cost only a quarter. Two bridges join Staten Island with New Jersey. |  |