Brooklyn Bridge From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge, viewed from Manhattan
Carries	Motor vehicles (cars only) Elevated trains (until 1944) Streetcars (until 1950) Pedestrians and bicycles
Crosses	East River
Locale	New York City (Manhattan–Brooklyn)
Maintained by	New York City Department of Transportation
Designer	John Augustus Roebling
Design	Suspension/Cable-stay Hybrid
Total length	5,989 feet (1825 m)[1]
Width	85 feet (26 m)
Height	276.5 ft (84.3 m) above mean high water[2]
Longest span	1,595 feet 6 inches (486.3 m)
Clearance below	135 feet (41 m) at mid-span
Opened	May 24, 1883; 130 years ago[3]
Toll	Free both ways
Daily traffic	123,781 (2008)[4]
Coordinates	40.70569°N 73.99639°WCoordinates: 40.70569°N 73.99639°W
Brooklyn Bridge
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Nat

The Brooklyn Bridge is a bridge in New York City and is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. Completed in 1883, it connects the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn by spanning the East River. With a main span of 1,595.5 feet (486.3 m), it was the longest suspension bridge in the world from its opening until 1903, and the first steel-wire suspension bridge.

Originally referred to as the New York and Brooklyn Bridge and as the East River Bridge, it was dubbed the Brooklyn Bridge, a name from an earlier January 25, 1867, letter to the editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle,^[7] and formally so named by the city government in 1915. Since its opening, it has become an icon of New York City, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964^[6][8][9] and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1972.^[10]

Contents

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• 1 Construction
• 2 Pedestrian and vehicular access
• 3 Notable events
  • 3.1 Notable jumpers
  • 3.2 First flight under the bridge
  • 3.3 100th anniversary celebrations
  • 3.4 Bungee jump
  • 3.5 1994 Brooklyn Bridge shooting
  • 3.6 2003 plot
  • 3.7 2006 bunker discovery
  • 3.8 125th anniversary celebrations
  • 3.9 Mass arrests
• 4 Cultural significance
• 5 Exit list
• 6 See also
• 7 References
• 8 Further reading
• 9 External links

Construction[edit source | editbeta]

John Augustus Roebling

The Brooklyn Bridge was initially designed by German immigrant John Augustus Roebling, who had previously designed and constructed shorter suspension bridges, such as Roebling's Delaware Aqueduct in Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania, Waco Suspension Bridge in Waco, Texas, and the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge inCincinnati, Ohio.

While conducting surveys for the bridge project, Roebling sustained a crush injury to his foot when a ferry pinned it against a piling. After amputation of his crushed toes he developed a tetanus infection which left him incapacitated and soon resulted in his death, not long after he had placed his 32-year-old son Washington Roebling in charge of the project.^[11] Washington Roebling also suffered a paralyzing injury as a result of decompression sickness shortly after the beginning of construction on January 3, 1870.^[12] This condition, first called "caisson disease" by the project physician Andrew Smith, afflicted many of the workers working within the caissons.^[13][14] Roebling's debilitating condition left him unable to physically supervise the construction firsthand.