Brooklyn Bridge

The Brooklyn Bridge is a cable-stayed suspension bridge in New York City. It crosses the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. It opened on May 24, 1883. It was the first fixed crossing of the East River. When it opened, it was also the longest suspension bridge in the world. Its main span was 1,595.5 feet (486.3 m) long. Its deck sat 127 feet (38.7 m) above mean high water. The bridge was first called the New York and Brooklyn Bridge or the East River Bridge. In 1915, it was officially renamed the Brooklyn Bridge. For other uses, see Brooklyn Bridge (disambiguation).

Plans for a bridge between Manhattan and Brooklyn were first made in the early 1800s. Over time, these plans grew into the bridge we know today. The bridge was designed by John A. Roebling. His son, Washington Roebling, led the project as chief engineer and added more design work. Washington's wife, the engineer Emily Warren Roebling, helped him. Construction began in 1870. The New York Bridge Company oversaw the work. That company was controlled by the Tammany Hall political group. Many disagreements and the bridge's new design made the project take thirteen years.

After it opened, the bridge changed several times. Until 1950, it carried horse-drawn vehicles and elevated railway lines. As more people traveled across the river, more bridges and tunnels were built. The bridge slowly wore down, so it was repaired several times, including in the 1950s, 1980s, and 2010s.

The Brooklyn Bridge is the southernmost of five vehicle bridges that connect Manhattan Island and Long Island. The others to the north are the Manhattan Bridge, the Williamsburg Bridge, the Queensboro Bridge, and the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge. The Robert F. Kennedy Bridge was formerly known as the Triborough Bridge. Today, only passenger vehicles, pedestrians, and bicycles are allowed on the Brooklyn Bridge. Since it opened, it has been a major tourist attraction and an icon of New York City. Over the years, people have used the bridge for stunts and performances. Some crimes, attacks, and acts of vandalism have also happened there. The Brooklyn Bridge is a National Historic Landmark, a New York City landmark, and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

Description

The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the first bridges built with steel wire cables. It mixes two designs, called hybrid style, using parts of cable-stayed and suspension bridges. It has both straight up-and-down cables and slanted cables. Its stone towers are in a neo-Gothic style, with pointed arches. The New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT), which takes care of the bridge, says its first paint colors were "Brooklyn Bridge Tan" and "Silver." Other accounts say it was once painted all "Rawlins Red."

The bridge has long ramps at each end. They lift the roadway high above the low ground on both shores, which leaves room for ships on the East River. The bridge is 6,016 feet (1,834 m) long from the edge of the road at Park Row in Manhattan to Sands Street in Brooklyn. The main section between the two towers is 1,595.5 feet (486.3 m) long and 85 feet (26 m) wide. Boats can pass beneath it, with 127 feet (38.7 m) of space above mean high water. The road is held up by trusses, which hang from four main cables by rope-like suspenders. The ramps include arch and girder bridges over side streets. In the late 1980s, the space under the Manhattan ramp became a skate park called the Brooklyn Banks. The four main cables are made of galvanized steel wires. They are bundled into 19 strands. There are about 1,088, 1,096, or 1,520 vertical suspender cables.

The bridge is held in place by anchorages, which are trapezoidal limestone structures near each shore. Each one weighs about 60,000 short tons (54,000 long tons; 54,000 t). Starting in 1876, the New York City government rented out the large vaults under the Manhattan anchorage. The money helped pay for the bridge's upkeep. The vaults were used to store wine. The Manhattan vault was called the "Blue Grotto" because of a shrine to the Virgin Mary at its entrance. The vaults were closed to the public during World War I and Prohibition.

The two suspension towers are 278 feet (85 m) tall. They are built of limestone, granite, and Rosendale cement. The limestone came from the Clark Quarry in Essex County, New York. The granite was cut from stone on Vinalhaven Island, Maine. Each tower has a pair of Gothic Revival pointed arches. The towers rest on underwater caissons, which are watertight boxes made of southern yellow pine and filled with cement. Most of the wood used in the bridge, including the wood in the caissons, came from mills at Gascoigne Bluff on St. Simons Island, Georgia. Inside the caissons were chambers for dredging, supply shafts, and airlocks.

History

People first made plans for a bridge between the separate cities of Brooklyn and New York in 1800. At that time, the only way to travel between them was by a number of ferry lines. Interest grew after the Aqueduct Bridge was built in the 1840s. It linked Manhattan to the West Bronx.

In 1857, John Augustus Roebling, an engineer who had come to America from Germany, proposed a suspension bridge over the East River. He had already built shorter suspension bridges, such as Roebling's Delaware Aqueduct in Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania, the Niagara Suspension Bridge, and the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge over the Ohio River between Cincinnati, Ohio and Covington, Kentucky.

In 1867, the New York State Senate approved the bridge. The name "Brooklyn Bridge" came from a letter to the editor sent to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. The two cities agreed to buy $5 million in capital stock to pay for it. Roebling's plan called for a bridge that was longer and taller than any suspension bridge before it. It would have roads and elevated rail tracks. Some people criticized the cost and difficulty of the project.

In June 1869, a ferry accident pinned Roebling's foot against a piling. He got a tetanus infection and died the next month. His son, Washington Roebling, took over the work. Tammany Hall leader William M. Tweed also became involved, and Tammany Hall oversaw the company.

Construction began on January 2, 1870. Workers built two caissons, which are large underwater chambers. The Brooklyn caisson was built at the Webb & Bell shipyard in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Workers dug into the riverbed using compressed air until they reached the bedrock. Many workers became sick with decompression sickness, and Washington Roebling was also hurt by it. He ran the work from home. His wife, Emily Warren Roebling, passed messages between him and the workers, and she took on many of the chief engineer's duties.

Next, masonry towers were built on top of the caissons. Blocks were lifted into place using a pulley system and a derrick. The towers were finished in 1876. They were taller than any building in the city except the spire of Trinity Church. The steel cables were strung between 1876 and 1878. People argued about whether to use Bessemer steel or crucible steel, and Abram Hewitt helped make the decision. Later, it was found that one contractor had used poor-quality wire, so extra wires were added to make the cables stronger.

Many other people helped build the bridge. It finally opened on May 24, 1883. It was the first fixed crossing between Manhattan and Long Island. Chester A. Arthur, the U.S. president, came to the opening. The bridge cost US$15.5 million in 1883 dollars. It stayed the longest suspension bridge in the world until the Williamsburg Bridge opened in 1903.

Public transit began with the New York and Brooklyn Bridge Railway, a cable car service. In 1884, P. T. Barnum's famous elephant Jumbo led a parade across the bridge. This helped people trust that it was strong.

Over the years, the bridge carried more and more people. Tolls were removed in 1911. Motor vehicles were banned in 1922 but allowed again in 1925. Major upgrades came in the 1950s. The bridge was repaired again in the 1980s and 1990s because its cables and concrete were getting old. From 2010 to 2017, the bridge's approaches and deck were renovated. In 2021, a protected bike path was finished on the roadway going toward Manhattan. In 2024, street vendors were banned from the bridge.

Usage

Horse-drawn carriages have been allowed on the roadways since the bridge opened. At first, each roadway had two lanes of traffic going in opposite directions. Each lane was only 8 feet (2.4 m) wide. Motor vehicles were not allowed from July 1922 to May 1925. After 1950, the main roadway had six lanes of cars, three in each direction. Trucks and buses are not allowed because of height and weight limits. In January 2021, the city decided to add a protected bike path on the Manhattan-bound roadway. It was finished on September 14, 2021. Cars reach the bridge by a complicated set of ramps, including from the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

See also: Brooklyn Bridge trolleys

Trains once ran on the bridge too. Cable cars and elevated railroads used it until 1944, and trolleys ran until 1950. The cable car service, the New York and Brooklyn Bridge Railway, began on September 25, 1883, with 24 cars. Washington Roebling believed steam locomotives would put too much weight on the bridge, so the cars were designed to be pulled by cable instead. Ridership grew quickly. In 1885, it reached nearly 20 million riders after the Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad opened. The bridge also has a raised pedestrian promenade in its center. When other ways of crossing the East River were unavailable, people walked across the bridge. This happened during transit strikes by the Transport Workers Union. Mayors Ed Koch and Michael Bloomberg joined the people crossing. People also walked across during blackouts.

Tolls

Further information: Congestion pricing in New York City § Tolls

The Brooklyn Bridge was first a toll bridge. People riding in carriages and cable cars paid to cross from the day the bridge opened. Walkers did not have to pay at first. By the 1900s, walkers were paying too. In July 1911, tolls on the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan, Williamsburg, and Queensboro bridges were ended. This was part of a plan to help everyday people. New York City mayor William Jay Gaynor led the plan.

In 1970, the federal government passed the Clean Air Act. This law set rules to clean up the air. Mayor John Lindsay and the federal Environmental Protection Agency wanted to charge tolls on four free bridges over the East River, including the Brooklyn Bridge. The money would help pay for the city's transit system and help meet the Clean Air Act. Abraham Beame became mayor in 1974 and refused to add the tolls. The United States Congress then passed a rule forbidding tolls on these free bridges. The United States Department of Transportation also decided that several of them could not be tolled under federal law, because federal money helped build them. In mid-2023, a plan was approved for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to charge drivers who enter Manhattan south of 60th Street. This plan started in January 2025.

Notable events

Many notable events have happened on and around the Brooklyn Bridge. In 1919, Giorgio Pessi flew one of the largest airplanes in the world at that time, the Caproni Ca.5, under the bridge. In 1993, Thierry Devaux illegally did eight acrobatic bungee jumps over the East River near the Brooklyn tower.

On March 1, 1994, Rashid Baz, who was born in Lebanon, fired at a van carrying members of the Chabad-Lubavitch Orthodox Jewish Movement as it crossed the bridge. Ari Halberstam, a 16-year-old student, was one of the people hurt. He died five days later. Baz was later found guilty of murder. He seems to have acted out of revenge for the Hebron massacre, a violent attack on Palestinian Muslims a few days earlier. At first, the case was called road rage. In 2000, the Justice Department changed it to a terrorist attack. In 2003, truck driver Iyman Faris was sentenced to about 20 years in prison for helping Al-Qaeda. He had also been part of an earlier plan to damage the bridge by cutting its support wires with blowtorches. The plan was stopped.

In 1977, artist Jack Bashkow climbed one of the towers as part of Bridging, a "media sculpture" by the performance group Art Corporation of America Inc. The event caused traffic problems during rush hour and got a lot of media attention. The climbers were arrested, but the charges were later dropped. On October 1, 2011, more than 700 Occupy Wall Street protesters were arrested while trying to walk across the bridge. In 2014, the American flags on top of the towers were replaced with white flags. Two artists from Berlin later said they had done this. The 50th anniversary in 1933 included an airplane show, ships, and fireworks. The 100th anniversary in 1983 included a parade of ships, parades on land, and a Grucci Fireworks show. The Brooklyn Museum also showed original drawings made for the bridge. For the 125th anniversary in 2008, a five-day event had a live performance by the Brooklyn Philharmonic, lights on the towers, and fireworks.

Over the years, many ships have hit the bridge.

See also: Cuauhtémoc Brooklyn Bridge collision

In 2025, the masts of the Mexican Navy training ship ARM Cuauhtémoc hit the bridge deck on May 17, 2025. The bridge was not damaged.

Impact

When it was built, people were amazed by what technology could do. The bridge became a symbol of that hopeful time. John Perry Barlow wrote in the late 20th century about the "literal and genuinely religious leap of faith" needed to build it. The bridge has been a National Historic Landmark since January 29, 1964, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. It has also been a New York City designated landmark since August 24, 1967, and was named a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1972. In 2017, it was placed on UNESCO's list of tentative World Heritage Sites. A bronze plaque on the Manhattan side marks the site of the Samuel Osgood House, which was torn down in 1856.

The bridge has also shaped American speech. Phrases about "selling the Brooklyn Bridge" often appear in American English. George C. Parker and William McCloundy were two con men who may have tried this trick on new immigrants. In the 1970s, the city planned a museum for the bridge, but it was never built. However, as many as 10,000 drawings and documents were found in 1976 and given to the New York City Municipal Archives. Some were shown at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Visitors sometimes attach love locks to the bridge, but this is illegal in New York City.

The bridge often appears in wide shots of the city skyline and in movies, such as Kate & Leopold. It has also been an icon of America in songs, books, and poems. Modernist poet Hart Crane used it as a central idea in his book The Bridge (1930). Critics have praised its design. Montgomery Schuyler wrote a review called "The Bridge As A Monument" for Harper's Weekly, published a week after the bridge opened. Lewis Mumford said the bridge brought "joy and inspiration" to him as a child. Henry James saw it as a sign that the city had become a "steel-souled machine room."

The bridge's construction is also covered in David McCullough's book The Great Bridge, Ken Burns's documentary Brooklyn Bridge, the BBC series Seven Wonders of the Industrial World, and the TV series The Gilded Age. In early 2026, the Metropolitan Museum of Art displayed presentation drawings from the bridge's construction. The bridge is pictured with Manhattan in the background.