The Brooklyn Bridge
When the Brooklyn Bridge was opened on May 24,
1883, it was declared to be the "Eighth Wonder of the World." Spanning the
East River in New York City, the Brooklyn Bridge joined the boroughs, or
districts, of Brooklyn and Manhattan. At its opening, it was the longest
suspension bridge on Earth. The bridge, with a span of 1595 feet, cost a
total of 15 million dollars to build. The Brooklyn Bridge hangs, or is suspended,
from huge steel cables approximately 16 inches thick. The cables are fastened
to two gothic style towers which stand 275 feet high at each end of the bridge.
The bridge holds six lanes of traffic in addition to a unique walkway down
its middle.
The building of
the Brooklyn Bridge was one of the greatest archictectular achievements ever.
The credit belonged to a father and son, John A. Roebling and Colenel Washington
A. Roebling. The Roblings were pioneer builders of big suspention bridges.
Prior to the Brooklyn Bridge, wrought iron had been used to support bridges.
The Roebling's plan called for their new bridge to be built steel-wire cables.
To hold the cables,
the Roeblings had to first construct two large towers. These two towers were
built on huge foundations which were sunk in the riverbed and fillrd with
concrete.
By 1877, the towers
were completed, and work had begun on "spinning the cables." This process
involved bunching steel wires together in compact bundles to form four, 16-inch
cables. These cables were used to hold more than 1500smaller cables which
reached down to hold the bridge.
By the time the
bridge opened in 1883, after 14 years of construction, twenty workers had
died in accidents while building the bridge. John A. Roebling had also died
as the result of an injury he had recived while surveying the tower site.
His son, Washington, managed to continue overseeng the project, but not without
his own health problems. He developed the bends from working deep inside
the bridge towers' bases. For months, he was confined to bed where he viewed
the bridge (a quarter mile away) through his telescope. With the help of
his wife, he still managed to supervise the complection of the bridge.
Today, the Brooklyn
Bridge is still considered to be among the greatest engineering feats of
all time.
