Brooklyn Bridge

I am one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States, stretching 5,989 feet over the East River connecting the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. On completion, I was the largest suspension bridge in the world and the first steel-wire suspension bridge. Originally referred to as the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, I was dubbed the Brooklyn Bridge in an 1867 letter to the editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Since my opening, I have become an iconic part of the New York skyline. In 1964 I was designated a National Historic Landmark.Construction began on January 3, 1870. I was completed thirteen years later and was opened for use on May 24, 1883. On that first day, a total of 1,800 vehicles and 150,300 people crossed me. I cost $15.1 million to build and approximately 27 people died during my construction. A week after the opening, on May 30, a rumor that I was going to break down caused a stampede which crushed and then killed twelve people.At the time I opened, I was the longest suspension bridge in the world—50% longer than any previously built—and I have become a treasured landmark. Additionally, for several years my towers were the tallest structures in the Western Hemisphere. Since the 1980s, I have been floodlit at night to highlight my architectural features. I am built from limestone, granite, and Rosendale natural cement. My architecture style is Gothic, with characteristic pointed arches above the passageways through my stone towers.I was designed by John Augustus Roebling in Trenton, New Jersey. Roebling had earlier designed and constructed my brothers, such as Roebling's Delaware Aqueduct in Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania, the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge in Cincinnati, Ohio and the Waco Suspension Bridge in Waco, Texas, that served as the engineering prototypes for the final design.During surveying for the East River Bridge project, Roebling's foot was badly injured by a ferry, pinning his foot against a pylon; within a few weeks, he died of tetanus. His son, Washington, succeeded him, but was stricken with caisson disease (decompression sickness, commonly known as "the bends"), due to working in compressed air in caissons, in 1872. The occurrence of the disease in the caisson workers caused him to halt construction of the Manhattan side of my tower 30 feet short of bedrock when soil tests underneath the caisson found bedrock to be even deeper than expected. Today, my Manhattan tower rests only on sand. Washington's wife, Emily Warren Roebling, became his aide, learning engineering and communicating his wishes to the on-site assistants. When I opened, she was the first person to cross me. Washington Roebling rarely visited me again, however I have many millions of friends and admirers who visit me regularly. I love you all!
Vital Stats:
Length of river span: 1595.5 feet
Total length: 5989 feet
Width of floor: 85 feet
Suspension cables: four, each 15.75 inches in diameter and 3578.5 feet long, containing 5434 wires each, for a total length of 3515 miles of wire per cable
Foundation depth below high water, Brooklyn: 44 feet 6 inches
Foundation depth below high water, Manhattan: 78 feet 6 inches
Tower height above high water: 276 feet 6 inches
Roadway height above high water: 119 feet (at towers)
Total weight, not including masonry: 14,680 tons