Brooklyn Bridge

The Brooklyn Bridge crosses the East River between Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn in New York City. When it opened on 24 May 1883 it was the longest suspension bridge in the world, and it was the first fixed crossing of the East River.

The engineer John A. Roebling designed the bridge, but he died of tetanus in 1869 after an accident during surveying. His son Washington Roebling took over, and after he was disabled by caisson disease in 1872, his wife Emily Warren Roebling played a major role in managing the work and communicating with the engineers. An estimated 27 men died during construction. In 1884 the showman P. T. Barnum led 21 elephants across the bridge to show it was safe.

The main span is about 486 metres long. Two Gothic-arched towers of limestone, granite and cement rise about 85 metres (278 feet) above the water and support four main steel cables and diagonal stays that form a web pattern. An elevated promenade above the road deck, shared by pedestrians and, until 2021, cyclists, gives views of the Manhattan skyline, the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan Bridge. A separate bike lane now runs on the road level. The bridge was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964.

Walking the bridge is free and takes about 30 to 40 minutes one way. Entrances are near City Hall in Manhattan and at Washington Street or Tillary Street in Brooklyn. Early morning is the quietest time.

Its main span of 1,595.5 feet was about 20 per cent longer than any suspension span built before it, and the bridge held the world record until the Williamsburg Bridge opened upstream in 1903. The design is a hybrid: vertical suspender ropes hang from the four main cables, while diagonal stays run from the towers to the deck, which is why the cables form the familiar web seen from the walkway.

Construction had its scandals. A supplier secretly delivered inferior wire for the cables, and once the fraud was found the bridge was reassessed as only four times as strong as necessary. The poor wire was left in place and 150 extra wires were added to each cable. The trusses were built to carry heavy elevated trains, which ran over the bridge until 1950, and the deck can bear 17,000 tonnes.

The first day drew 1,800 vehicles and 150,300 people. Six days later, on 30 May 1883, a woman fell on a stairway at the Brooklyn approach and the rumour of a collapse started a crush that killed at least twelve people. That fear of collapse is one reason Barnum's elephant parade the following year drew such attention.

Today only cars, walkers and cyclists use it, and the New York City Department of Transportation maintains it. The bridge became a National Historic Landmark on 29 January 1964 and joined the National Register of Historic Places on 15 October 1966.