Planning Proposals for a bridge between the then-separate cities of Brooklyn and New York had been suggested as early as 1800. Engineers presented various designs, such as chain or link bridges, though these were never built because of the difficulties of constructing a high enough fixed-span bridge across the extremely busy East River. Renewed interest in connecting the two cities emerged after the construction of the
Aqueduct Bridge, connecting Manhattan to what is now the
West Bronx, in the 1840s. German immigrant engineer John Augustus Roebling proposed building a suspension bridge over the East River in 1857. He had previously designed and constructed shorter suspension bridges, such as
Roebling's Delaware Aqueduct in
Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania, and the Niagara Suspension Bridge. In 1867, Roebling erected what became the
John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge over the Ohio River between
Cincinnati, Ohio, and
Covington, Kentucky. In February 1867, the New York State Senate passed a bill that allowed the construction of a suspension bridge from Brooklyn to Manhattan. Two months later, the New York and Brooklyn Bridge Company was incorporated with a board of directors (later converted to a board of trustees). Alternatively, the span was just referred to as the "Brooklyn Bridge", a name originating in a January 25, 1867,
letter to the editor sent to the
Brooklyn Daily Eagle. The act of incorporation, which became law on April 16, 1867, authorized the cities of New York (now Manhattan) and Brooklyn to subscribe to $5 million in
capital stock, which would fund the bridge's construction. According to the plan, the bridge would be longer and taller than any suspension bridge previously built. The proposal received much acclaim in both cities, and residents predicted that the New York and Brooklyn Bridge's opening would have as much of an impact as the
Suez Canal, the first
transatlantic telegraph cable or the
first transcontinental railroad. By early 1869, however, some individuals started to criticize the project, saying either that the bridge was too expensive, or that the construction process was too difficult. To allay concerns about the design of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, Roebling set up a "Bridge Party" in March 1869, where he invited engineers and members of U.S. Congress to see his other spans. Following the bridge party in April, Roebling and several engineers conducted final surveys. During the process, it was determined that the main span would have to be raised from above MHW, requiring several changes to the overall design. In June 1869, while conducting these surveys, 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 that left him incapacitated and resulted in his death the following month.
Washington Roebling, John Roebling's 32-year-old son, was then hired to fill his father's role.
Tammany Hall leader
William M. Tweed also became involved in the bridge's construction because, as a major landowner in New York City, he had an interest in the project's completion. The New York and Brooklyn Bridge Company—later known simply as the New York Bridge Company—was actually overseen by Tammany Hall, and it approved Roebling's plans and designated him as chief engineer of the project.
Construction Caissons Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge began on January 2, 1870.The six of us were working naked to the waist in the small iron chamber with the temperature of about 80 degrees Fahrenheit: In five minutes the sweat was pouring from us, and all the while we were standing in icy water that was only kept from rising by the terrific pressure. No wonder the headaches were blinding. The "Great Blowout", as the fire was called, delayed construction for several months, since the holes in the caisson had to be repaired. On March 6, 1871, the repairs were finished, and the caisson had reached its final depth of ; it was filled with concrete five days later. Only a few workers were paralyzed by
decompression sickness; at its final depth, the caisson's air pressure was . The Manhattan side's caisson was the next structure to be built. To ensure that it would not catch fire like its counterpart had, the Manhattan caisson was lined with fireproof plate iron. This condition was unknown at the time and was first called "caisson disease" by the project physician, Andrew Smith. Between January 25 and May 31, 1872, Smith treated 110 cases of decompression sickness, while three workers died from the disease. After the Manhattan caisson reached a depth of with an air pressure of , Washington Roebling himself suffered a paralyzing injury as a result of caisson disease shortly after ground was broken for the Brooklyn tower foundation. His debilitating condition left him unable to supervise the construction in person, so he designed the caissons and other equipment from his apartment, directing "the completion of the bridge through a telescope from his bedroom." but also understood
mathematics, calculations of
catenary curves, strengths of materials, bridge specifications, and the intricacies of cable construction. She spent the next 11 years helping supervise the bridge's construction, taking over much of the chief engineer's duties, including day-to-day supervision and project management.
Towers After the caissons were completed, piers were constructed on top of each of them upon which masonry towers would be built. The towers' construction was a complex process that took four years. Since the masonry blocks were heavy, the builders transported them to the base of the towers using a
pulley system with a continuous steel wire rope, operated by steam engines at ground level. The blocks were then carried up on a timber track alongside each tower and maneuvered into the proper position using a
derrick atop the towers. The blocks sometimes vibrated the ropes because of their weight, but only once did a block fall. The arches of the Brooklyn tower were completed by August 1874. The tower was substantially finished by December 1874 with the erection of saddle plates for the main cables at the top of the tower. However, the ornamentation on the Brooklyn tower could not be completed until the Manhattan tower was finished. The last stone on the Brooklyn tower was raised in June 1875 and the Manhattan tower was completed in July 1876. The saddle plates atop both towers were also raised in July 1876. The work was dangerous: by 1876, three workers had died having fallen from the towers, while nine other workers were killed in other accidents. When the towers were completed, they were taller than any building in the city, with the exception of the spire of
Trinity Church, which reached . This remained the case until 1890. ,
From Bridge Tower, ,
Brooklyn Museum In 1875, while the towers were being constructed, the project had depleted its original $5 million budget. Two bridge commissioners, one each from Brooklyn and Manhattan, petitioned New York state lawmakers to allot another $8 million for construction. Ultimately, the legislators passed a law authorizing the allotment with the condition that the cities would buy the stock of Brooklyn Bridge's private stockholders. Work proceeded concurrently on the anchorages on each side. The Brooklyn anchorage broke ground in January 1873 The anchorages could not be fully completed until the main cables were spun, at which point another would be added to the height of each anchorage.
Cables The first temporary wire was stretched between the towers on August 15, 1876, using
chrome steel provided by the Chrome Steel Company of Brooklyn. The wire was one of two that were used to create a temporary footbridge for workers while cable spinning was ongoing. A second traveler wire was then stretched across the span, a task that was completed by August 30. The temporary footbridge, located some above the elevation of the future deck, was completed in February 1877. By December 1876, a steel contract for the permanent cables still had not been awarded. There was disagreement over whether the bridge's cables should use the as-yet-untested
Bessemer steel or the well-proven
crucible steel. Until a permanent contract was awarded, the builders ordered of wire in the interim, 10 tons each from three companies, including
Washington Roebling's own steel mill in
Trenton, New Jersey. In the end, it was decided to use number 8
Birmingham gauge (approximately 4 mm or 0.165 inches in diameter) crucible steel, and a request for bids was distributed, to which eight companies responded. who was associated with bridge trustee
Abram Hewitt, whom Roebling distrusted. The spinning of the wires required the manufacture of large coils of it which were galvanized but not oiled when they left the factory. The coils were delivered to a yard near the Brooklyn anchorage. There they were dipped in
linseed oil, hoisted to the top of the anchorage, dried out and spliced into a single wire, and finally coated with red zinc for further galvanizing. There were thirty-two drums at the anchorage yard, eight for each of the four main cables. Each drum had a capacity of of wire. The first experimental wire for the main cables was stretched between the towers on May 29, 1877, and spinning began two weeks later. The visitor passes ceased that September after a visitor had an
epileptic seizure and nearly fell off. As the wires were being spun, work also commenced on the demolition of buildings on either side of the river for the Brooklyn Bridge's approaches; this work was mostly complete by September 1877. By May 1878, the main cables were more than two-thirds complete. However, the following month, one of the wires slipped, killing two people and injuring three others. In 1877, Hewitt wrote a letter urging against the use of Bessemer steel in the bridge's construction. Bids had been submitted for both crucible steel and Bessemer steel;
John A. Roebling's Sons submitted the lowest bid for Bessemer steel, but at Hewitt's direction, the contract was awarded to Haigh. To avoid public controversy, Haigh was not fired, but instead was required to personally pay for the extra higher-quality wire needed.
Nearing completion After the suspender wires had been placed, workers began erecting steel crossbeams to support the roadway as part of the bridge's overall superstructure. That July, the trustees decided to award a contract for of Bessemer steel to the Edgemoor (or Edge Moor) Iron Works, based in
Philadelphia, to be delivered by 1880. The trustees later passed another resolution for another of Bessemer steel. That October, the bridge trustees questioned Edgemoor's president about the delay in steel deliveries. Despite Edgemoor's assurances that the contract would be fulfilled, the deliveries still had not been completed by November 1881. Brooklyn mayor
Seth Low, who became part of the board of trustees in 1882, became the chairman of a committee tasked to investigate Edgemoor's failure to fulfill the contract. When questioned, Edgemoor's president stated that the delays were the fault of another contractor, the
Cambria Iron Company, who was manufacturing the eyebars for the bridge trusses; at that point, the contract was supposed to be complete by October 1882. Further complicating the situation, Washington Roebling had failed to appear at the trustees' meeting in June 1882, since he had gone to
Newport, Rhode Island. Some of the longstanding trustees, including
Henry C. Murphy,
James S. T. Stranahan, and
William C. Kingsley, were willing to vouch for Roebling, since construction progress on the Brooklyn Bridge was still ongoing. However, Roebling's behavior was considered suspect among the younger trustees who had joined the board more recently. By early 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was considered mostly completed and was projected to open that June. Contracts for bridge lighting were awarded by February 1883,
Opposition There was substantial opposition to the bridge's construction from shipbuilders and merchants located to the north, who argued that the bridge would not provide sufficient clearance underneath for ships. In May 1876, these groups, led by Abraham Miller, filed a lawsuit in the
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against the cities of New York and Brooklyn. In 1879, an Assembly Sub-Committee on Commerce and Navigation began an investigation into the Brooklyn Bridge. A seaman who had been hired to determine the height of the span, testified to the committee about the difficulties that ship masters would experience in bringing their ships under the bridge when it was completed. Another witness,
Edward Wellman Serrell, a civil engineer, said that the calculations of the bridge's assumed strength were incorrect. The Supreme Court decided in 1883 that the Brooklyn Bridge was a lawful structure.
Opening The New York and Brooklyn Bridge was opened for use on May 24, 1883, becoming the first fixed crossing between Manhattan and Long Island. Thousands of people attended the opening ceremony, and many ships were present in the East River for the occasion. Officially, Emily Warren Roebling was the first to cross the bridge. Though Washington Roebling was unable to attend the ceremony (and rarely visited the site again), he held a celebratory banquet at his house on the day of the bridge opening. Further festivity included the performance by a band, gunfire from ships, and a fireworks display. On that first day, a total of 1,800 vehicles and 150,300 people crossed the span. However, cross-river ferries continued to operate until 1942. An estimated 27 men died during its construction. Until the construction of the nearby
Williamsburg Bridge in 1903, the New York and Brooklyn Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world, 20% longer than any built previously. At the time of opening, the Brooklyn Bridge was not complete; the proposed public transit across the bridge was still being tested, while the Brooklyn approach was being completed. On May 30, 1883, six days after the opening, a woman falling down a stairway at the Brooklyn approach caused a stampede which resulted in at least
twelve people being crushed and killed. In subsequent lawsuits, the Brooklyn Bridge Company was acquitted of negligence. and the trustees approved a fireproofing plan for the bridge. Public transit service began with the opening of the
New York and Brooklyn Bridge Railway, a cable car service, on September 25, 1883. On May 17, 1884, one of the circus master
P. T. Barnum's most famous attractions,
Jumbo the elephant, led a parade of 21 elephants over the Brooklyn Bridge. This helped to lessen doubts about the bridge's stability while also promoting Barnum's circus.
1880s to 1900s Patronage across the Brooklyn Bridge increased in the years after it opened; a million people paid to cross in the first six months. The bridge carried 8.5 million people in 1884, its first full year of operation; this number doubled to 17 million in 1885 and again to 34 million in 1889. Additionally, about 4.5 million pedestrians a year were crossing the bridge for free by 1892. The first proposal to make changes to the bridge was sent in only two and a half years after it opened, when
Linda Gilbert suggested glass steam-powered elevators and an observatory be added to the bridge and a fee charged for use, which would in part fund the bridge's upkeep and in part fund her prison reform charity. This proposal was considered but not acted upon. Numerous other proposals were made during the first fifty years of the bridge's life. Pedestrian traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge began to decline after the trolley routes opened. There were more significant worries after twelve suspender cables snapped in 1901, though a thorough investigation found no other defects. After the 1901 incident, five inspectors were hired to examine the bridge each day, a service that cost $250,000 a year. The
Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, which operated routes across the Brooklyn Bridge, issued a notice in 1905 saying that the bridge had reached its transit capacity. Although a second deck for the Brooklyn Bridge was proposed, it was thought to be infeasible because doing so would overload the bridge's structural capacity. This was followed by the
Queensboro Bridge between Queens and Manhattan in March 1909, and the
Manhattan Bridge between Brooklyn and Manhattan in December 1909. Several subway, railroad, and road tunnels were also constructed, which helped to accelerate the development of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. Ostensibly in an attempt to reduce traffic on nearby city streets,
Grover Whalen, the commissioner of Plant and Structures, banned motor vehicles from the Brooklyn Bridge on July 6, 1922. The real reason for the ban was an incident the same year where two cables slipped due to high traffic loads. Both Whalen and Roebling called for the renovation of the Brooklyn Bridge and the construction of a parallel bridge, though the parallel bridge was never built. Whalen's successor William Wirt Mills announced in 1924 that a new wood-block pavement would be installed, permitting motor vehicles to use the bridge again; motor traffic was again allowed on the bridge starting on May 12, 1925. The city celebrated the bridge's 50th anniversary in 1933. In 1939, as an alternative to the planned
Brooklyn–Battery Bridge, Manhattan borough president
Stanley M. Isaacs proposed constructing vehicular ramps from the Brooklyn Bridge to
South Street along the Manhattan waterfront. To improve traffic flow and aesthetics, the city announced plans in 1941 to remove the elevated rail stations at both ends and to upgrade the Manhattan approach viaduct. The latter would entail demolishing several city blocks and constructing vehicular ramps at the Manhattan end. Elevated rail service was ultimately withdrawn in March 1944, and after the rail terminals had been removed, Mayor
Fiorello La Guardia "re-unveiled" the bridge the next year. Between November 1946 and January 1947, the Manhattan-bound roadway carried Brooklyn-bound traffic during the evening rush hours as part of an experiment.
Mid- to late 20th century Upgrades The first major upgrade to the Brooklyn Bridge commenced in 1948, when a contract to entirely reconstruct the approach ramps was awarded to
David B. Steinman. The renovation was expected to double the capacity of the bridge's roadways to nearly 6,000 cars per hour, The renovation included the demolition of both the elevated and the trolley tracks on the roadways, the removal of trusses separating the inner elevated tracks from the existing vehicle lanes and the widening of each roadway from two to three lanes, as well as the construction of a new steel-and-concrete floor. In addition, new ramps were added to Adams Street,
Cadman Plaza, and the
Brooklyn Queens Expressway (BQE) on the Brooklyn side, and to Park Row on the Manhattan side. The bridge was briefly closed to all traffic for the first time ever in January 1950, and the trolley tracks closed permanently that March. During the construction project, one roadway at a time was closed, allowing reduced traffic flows to cross the bridge in one direction only. The widened south roadway was completed in May 1951, followed by the north roadway in October 1953. The restoration was finished in May 1954 with the completion of the reconstructed elevated promenade. In addition, defensive barriers were added to the bridge as a safeguard against sabotage.Simultaneous with the rebuilding of the Brooklyn Bridge, a double-decked viaduct for the BQE was being built through an existing steel overpass of the bridge's Brooklyn approach ramp. The segment of the BQE from Brooklyn Bridge south to
Atlantic Avenue opened in June 1954, but the direct ramp from the northbound BQE to the Manhattan-bound Brooklyn Bridge did not open until 1959. The city also widened the Adams Street approach in Brooklyn, between the bridge and
Fulton Street, from between 1954 and 1955. Subsequently, Boerum Place from Fulton Street south to Atlantic Avenue was also widened. This required the demolition of the old Kings County courthouse. The towers were cleaned in 1958 and the Brooklyn anchorage was repaired the next year. On the Manhattan side, the city approved a controversial rebuilding of the Manhattan entrance plaza in 1953. The project, which would add a grade-separated junction over Park Row, was hotly contested because it would require the demolition of 21 structures, including the old
New York World Building. The reconstruction also necessitated the relocation of 410 families on Park Row. In December 1956, the city started a two-year renovation of the plaza. This required the closure of one roadway at a time, as was done during the rebuilding of the bridge itself. Work on redeveloping the area around the Manhattan approach started in the mid-1960s. At the same time, plans were announced for direct ramps to the elevated
FDR Drive to alleviate congestion at the approach. The ramp from FDR Drive to the Brooklyn Bridge was opened in 1968, followed by the ramp from the bridge to FDR Drive the next year. A single ramp from the Manhattan-bound Brooklyn Bridge to northbound Park Row was constructed in 1970. A repainting of the bridge was announced two years later in advance of its 90th anniversary.
Deterioration and late-20th century repair The Brooklyn Bridge gradually deteriorated due to age and neglect. While it had 200 full-time dedicated maintenance workers before World War II, that number dropped to five by the late 20th century, and the city as a whole only had 160 bridge maintenance workers. In 1974, heavy vehicles such as vans and buses were banned from the bridge to prevent further erosion of the concrete roadway. A report in
The New York Times four years later noted that the cables were visibly fraying and the pedestrian promenade had holes in it. The city began planning to replace all the Brooklyn Bridge's cables at a cost of $115 million, as part of a larger project to renovate the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg, and Queensboro bridges. By 1980, the Brooklyn Bridge was in such dire condition that it faced imminent closure. In some places, half of the strands in the cables were broken. In June 1981, two of the diagonal stay cables snapped, killing a pedestrian. Following the incident, the city accelerated the timetable of its proposed cable replacement, the stairs from Tillary and Adams Streets were replaced with a ramp, and the short flights of steps from the promenade to each tower's balcony were removed. In a smaller project, the bridge was floodlit at night starting in 1982 to highlight its architectural features. Additional problems persisted, and in 1993, high levels of
lead were discovered near the bridge's towers. Further emergency repairs were undertaken in mid-1999 after small concrete shards began falling from the bridge into the East River. The concrete deck had been installed during the 1950s renovations and had a lifespan of about 60 years. The Park Row exit from the bridge's westbound lanes was closed as a safety measure after the
September 11, 2001, attacks on the nearby
World Trade Center. That section of Park Row had been closed off since it ran right underneath
1 Police Plaza, the headquarters of the
New York City Police Department (NYPD). In early 2003, to save money on electricity, the NYCDOT turned off the bridge's "necklace lights" at night. They were turned back on later that year after several private entities made donations to fund the lights.
21st century After the 2007 collapse of the
I-35W bridge in
Minneapolis, public attention focused on the condition of bridges across the U.S.
The New York Times reported that the Brooklyn Bridge approach ramps had received a "poor" rating during an inspection in 2007. However, a NYCDOT spokesman said that the poor rating did not indicate a dangerous state but rather implied it required renovation. In 2010, the NYCDOT began renovating the approaches and deck, as well as repainting the suspension span. Work included widening two approach ramps from one to two lanes by re-striping a new prefabricated ramp; raising clearance over the eastbound BQE at York Street; seismic retrofitting; replacement of rusted railings and safety barriers; and road deck resurfacing. The work necessitated detours for four years. At the time, the project was scheduled to be completed in 2014; then again to 2017. The project's cost also increased from $508 million in 2010 Work on the pedestrian entrance on the Brooklyn side was underway by 2017. The NYCDOT also indicated in 2016 that it planned to reinforce the Brooklyn Bridge's foundations to prevent it from sinking, as well as repair the masonry arches on the approach ramps, which had been damaged by
Hurricane Sandy four years earlier. In July 2018, the
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission approved a further renovation of the Brooklyn Bridge's suspension towers and approach ramps. That December, the federal government gave the city $25 million in funding, which would pay for a $337 million rehabilitation of the bridge approaches and the suspension towers. Work started in late 2019 and was scheduled to be completed in four years. This restoration included removing bricks from the arches and putting fresh concrete behind them, using mortar from the same upstate quarries as the original mortar. The granite arches were also cleaned, revealing the original gray color of the stone, which had long been hidden by grime. Additionally, 56 LED lamps were installed on the bridge at a cost of $2.4 million. Ultimately, a
protected bike path was completed on the Manhattan-bound roadway in 2021. Despite the addition of the bike path, the bridge's walkway was still frequently overcrowded, prompting the city to propose that street vendors be banned from the bridge and others citywide. All vendors were banned from the bridge in January 2024, and the same month, the bridge's new LED lights were illuminated for the first time. == Usage ==