Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge spans the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn. It opened on May 24, 1883 — the first fixed crossing of the East River — with a main span of 1,595.5 feet (486.3 m), making it the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time. The bridge was designed by German-born engineer John Roebling. After Roebling died early in construction, his son Washington Roebling took over as chief engineer; Washington's wife Emily Warren Roebling, herself an engineer, then oversaw the day-to-day work on the ground through thirteen years of construction. The two Gothic Revival stone towers and their pointed arches are the bridge's most distinctive feature. Long a symbol of New York, it is a designated National Historic Landmark. Every section of the bridge — deck, cables, anchorages, towers, caissons — holds a story that most people walk straight past.
United States · 7 The overlooked corners inside
The overlooked corners inside
Roadway Deck
The deck you're walking on is a structure that breathes with the weather: across the full range of temperature extremes, it expands and contracts by 14 to 16 inches. To give East River traffic enough clearance below, long approach viaducts lift the bridge from the low shoreline on each side; measured from the curb at Park Row in Manhattan to the curb at Sands Street in Brooklyn, the full length including approaches is 6,016 feet (1,834 m). The navigational clearance above mean high water is 127 feet — though that figure isn't quite constant.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Main Span
The span hanging between the two towers — 1,595.5 feet (486.3 m) long and 85 feet wide — was the longest suspension bridge span in the world when the bridge opened. From each tower to its respective anchorage, two side spans of 930 feet (280 m) each extend outward. The whole deck is carried by a truss 33 feet deep that runs parallel to the roadway, suspended by vertical hangers dropped from the main cables above.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Approach Viaducts & Space Below
The approach viaducts leading to the bridge are more than just ramps. The Manhattan approach runs 1,567 feet (478 m) — nearly twice the 971-foot (296 m) Brooklyn approach — and each is carried on a series of Renaissance Revival masonry arches, their openings bricked in with small windows. Where the viaducts cross intersecting streets, nine arched or iron-truss bridges span the gaps. The space between the massive piers below is far from empty: in the late 1980s, skateboarders claimed the brick-paved slopes beneath the Manhattan approach, calling it Brooklyn Banks and using the bridge piers as obstacles.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Main Cables
Four main cables drape from the tops of the two towers, positioned outside each roadway edge and at the center. Each cable is 15.75 inches (40 cm) in diameter, made up of 5,282 galvanized parallel steel wires bundled into a cylinder — grouped into 19 strands of 278 wires each. This was the first use of the bundling method in suspension bridge history, a process that took workers months to complete. From each main cable hang between 1,088 and 1,520 vertical suspender cables, and 400 diagonal cable stays radiate outward from the towers, together supporting the deck truss.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Anchorages
At each end of the bridge, a massive anchorage locks the four main cables into the ground. These trapezoidal limestone structures measure 129 by 119 feet (39 by 36 m) at the base, narrowing to 117 by 104 feet (36 by 32 m) at the top, and each weighs 60,000 short tons (54,000 metric tons). The Manhattan anchorage rests on bedrock; the Brooklyn anchorage sits on clay. Neither is solid inside: each contains passages and chambers, four anchor plates each weighing 46,000 pounds (21,000 kg), and two sets of nine eyebars connecting those plates to their respective cables, with the chain curving downward from cable to plate.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Towers
The two stone towers rise 278 feet (85 m) and measure 140 by 59 feet (43 by 18 m) at the w… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Caissons
The part of the bridge no visitor will ever see may be its most astonishing feat of engine… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
FAQ
What overlooked corners are worth seeing inside Brooklyn Bridge?
Roadway Deck, Main Span, Approach Viaducts & Space Below and more — 7 spots in all, each with sources and a guide in your language to read or listen to on the spot.
Is the Brooklyn Bridge guide free?
The first 5 spots are free to read; the other 2 unlock with a one-time purchase (not a subscription).