Brooklyn Bridge

Introduction and History

The bridge located in Manhattan and Brooklyn, New York, USA. The construction work for the
bridge was started in 1869 and completed within 14 years, in 1883. The total estimated cost
occurred for the construction of bridge was $18 million at that time. The was considered as the
brilliant accomplishment of engineering of the 19 th century, which total length is 3,460 feet with
a longest single span of 1,595 feet. The bridge was the first ever suspension bridge, which have
been made by steel cable wires. The engineers John A. Roebling and his son Washington A.
Roebling used steel and granite as the materials for the bridge. The engineers used dangerous
explosives underwater, which they called Caisson. At that time, it was considered as the longest
bridge of the world.

Challenges Met By the Brooklyn Bridge

In the early 1800, it was considered as the dream of making large bridge on the East River. The
idea was to provide advantage to joint cities New York and Brooklyn. However, this idea was
thought to be impossible because the width of East River was too large to cover maximum of it.
The East River was salt-water estuary, have tidal conditions and prone to turbulence. Further
challenges that the bridge had faced was that the East River considered as the busiest River in the
World because hundreds of crafts with all sizes cross the bridge any time and it is general rule
that any bridge spanning the water should allow the ships to cross beneath it, which means
bridge needs high suspension that was the only practical solution rest with the engineers at that
time to made largest bridge ever in the New York.

Questions about the Structure of the bridge

The Brooklyn Bridge is now considered as one of the 166 bridges, which are structurally
deficient and the reactions and responses of the residents of the New York state put the bridge in
the category of that bridge, which was collapsed into the Mississippi River. According to feds
rating system, Brooklyn Bridge was rated less than the troubled Willis Ave and the Minneapolis
Bridge. The Brooklyn Bridge got awful ranks from the state of New York and called that a bridge
with poor condition, which have rusting steel joints and worsening bricks and mortar on the
ramps. The biggest problem now considered for the bridge is roadway deck on the approaches of
Brooklyn and Manhattan. However, it does not a matter to shut down the bridge for the traffic
even with the poor rating from the residents of the state like the country did with Williamsburg
Bridge in 1988. The Brooklyn Bridge was provided the lowest rating of zero because of safety,
serviceability, structural adequacy, and functional obsolescence.

References
McNamara, R. (2015). The Impossible Accomplished Building the Brooklyn Bridge. About.com
Education. Retrieved 8 December 2015, from
http://history1800s.about.com/od/bridgebuilding/a/brooklynbrid01.htm
Pbs.org. (2001). BUILDING BIG: Databank: Brooklyn Bridge. Retrieved 8 December 2015,
from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/wonder/structure/brooklyn.html
LESSER, B., DONOHUE, P., & SMITH, G. (2007). Brooklyn Bridge rated worse than doomed
span. Nydailynews.com. Retrieved 8 December 2015, from
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/brooklyn-bridge-rated-worse-doomed-span-article1.235021
Maher, J. (2015). Brooklyn Bridge History and Photography by James Maher Photography.
Jamesmaherphotography.com. Retrieved 8 December 2015, from
http://www.jamesmaherphotography.com/articles/26-brooklyn-bridge
Freudenheim, E. (2015). Is the Brooklyn Bridge Safe? It's Been Classified as Structurally
Deficient. About.com Travel. Retrieved 8 December 2015, from
http://brooklyn.about.com/od/brooklynbridge/a/Is-The-Brooklyn-Bridge-Safe-Its-BeenClassified-As-Structurally-Deficient.htm