Brooklyn Bridge
Brooklyn Bridge is one of New York City’s calling cards. It spans the East River and serves to connect the southern tip of Manhattan to Brooklyn. The bridge is 26 meters wide, 41 meters high above the water at its highest point, and 1,828 meters long.
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The bridge is one of the city’s seven bridges spanning the strait, and is one of the oldest suspension bridges surviving in the United States. It is among the country’s major national landmarks and has come to symbolize America’s industrial progress. More than 130 years have passed since its construction, but the old bridge continues to impress all who have seen it.
Video: Brooklyn Bridge
Contents- Highlights
- History of construction
- Engineering features of the bridge
Interesting facts about the Brooklyn Bridge - Tips for amateur photographers
- How to get there
Highlights
One of the last to enter the competition was a revolutionary at the time project of a suspension bridge made of steel cables. Its author was an immigrant from Germany, John August Roebling. He came to America in 1831, changing his name from Johan to John. Roebling was not new to bridge building. During his life in his new homeland, he had already gained experience building five suspension bridges in several American states. However, all of them were of much smaller dimensions.
The architect’s idea was unique. He decided to build a structure consisting of three spans, which would be divided by two towers, 83 meters high. Instead of expensive heavy cast iron, Roebling suggested using high-strength steel.
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The authorities immediately approved the unusual project, although it had many opponents. The fact is that in the XIX century steel was a new building material, and the experience of its use was still small. Skeptics argued that steel cables would eventually rust and lose strength. For these reasons, Roebling suggested galvanizing steel products beforehand to keep them from naturally corroding.
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However, before construction even began in 1869, tragedy struck. John Roebling, was taking the final measurements of the canal. The ferry from which the piles were being driven suddenly collided with his boat, and the architect severely injured his leg. The injury was very serious and the foot had to be urgently amputated. This in turn led to blood poisoning, from which Roebling died.
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The younger Roebling also participated in heavy caisson work at times. But one day there was an accident in the huge box caisson, and the young porky Washington descended to where he was until the danger was completely eliminated. A natural consequence of such descents was caisson disease (oxygen is pressurized there, and the rapid ascent “boils” nitrogen in the blood). Washington was paralyzed by the progression of the disease and could no longer directly supervise construction.
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On the Brooklyn waterfront, the Roebling family rented an apartment overlooking the bridge under construction, and the bedridden Roebling watched the work through a telescope. His calculations, instructions and orders were faithfully carried to the construction site by his wife Emily for the next 11 years. All the names of the members of the Roebling family, thanks to whose persistence the construction still took place, immortalized on a memorial plaque, installed on the Brooklyn Bridge.
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The city allocated a huge sum for the XIX century – 15.1 million dollars for the construction work. They were spent on laborers’ wages, high-strength steel ropes, granite, limestone, and concrete. Unfortunately, for various reasons, this unique construction project claimed the lives of 27 people.
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A week later, people on the bridge panicked during strong wind gusts. They were afraid that the structure would collapse, and a crush formed in the crowd, resulting in the deaths of 12 people. The residents of the city could not get used to the unusual suspension structure, and several more times there was panic on the bridge.
.To prevent possible tragedies, the city authorities made an unconventional decision. A year after the opening of the bridge, a long caravan of 21 elephants traveled across it. Huge animals, just by the way, brought to the city one of the touring circuses. Such an unusual procession convinced the citizens that it was safe to use the bridge. And there were no more tragedies.
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Engineering features of the bridge
At the time the bridge was built, there was no thought given to the aerodynamic features of structures, so many old bridges quickly fell into disrepair or had to be rebuilt. But this was not the case with the Brooklyn Bridge. Its strength is 6 times higher than the one that the author of the project John Roebling had calculated. This happened largely due to the unique ways of weaving and tying steel cables, which were invented by the talented bridge builder.
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The roadway is held up by 4 cables 0.4 meters in diameter. Each is woven from 5,434 steel strands. In fact, the additional diagonal cables supporting the structure from the two pylon towers to the main roadbed do not carry any load and are made “to back up” the main support system. They play more of an aesthetic role and are preserved to make the bridge look more original.
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Interesting facts about the Brooklyn Bridge
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Tips for amateur photographers
How to get there
A first introduction to the Brooklyn Bridge is best started from the Hudson River. The view of it from the bay side makes a lasting impression. To get to the bridge, you need to use a boat that runs along Manhattan to the Statue of Liberty and back. It is convenient to get on such a boat from the pier “West 44 st”. But it won’t go all the way to the bridge, and you’ll have to walk a bit.
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If using the city’s public transportation, both sides of the bridge are accessible by subway. On the Manhattan side, you need to take the station to “Brooklyn Bridge – Chambers St” (trains 4, 5, 6, J, Z). Once out of the subway, you just need to continue towards the bridge.
.From Brooklyn, the road is a little more complicated. You need to take the subway to the “Brooklyn Bridge – High St” station (A and C trains). The subway exit is at “Cadman Plaza” Park – in the northwest part of Brooklyn. You have to walk southeast through the park, so you will first have to head in the direction away from the Brooklyn Bridge, which is clearly visible behind the city buildings. At the corner of the park stands the large District Court building, beyond which is the intersection of Tillary Street and Brooklyn Bridge Promenade. This is the start of the walk to the bridge, which is at the 20th floor level, above the streets of New York City.
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