Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge links the two boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan, and is located over New York City’s East River. It is a scenic passage with towers and steel cables made of granite where millions of transportation pass by each day, since 1883. It took 600 workers to build this bridge, and its construction took 14 years, costing $320 million in today’s dollars. Roughly 150,000 vehicles pass by in this iconic bridge.
John Augustus Roebling is behind the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. He is known to be a great designer of steel suspension bridges and a pioneer of its usage; he also promoted the use of wire cable and has ran a successful wire-cable factory. During his time, this kind of bridge is widely known to fail under strong winds and heavy loads. The well-known P.T. Barnum has even led 21 elephants to pass the bridge on May 17, 1884, to prove that it is a safe and stable structure. The construction process of the bridge is a perilous process; back then, workers have to excavate the riverbed in wooden boxes called caissons, and these chambers have to be pinned to the river floor. To have a solid foundation, enormous granite blocks are used for the pinning and pressurized air was pumped. Because of its marvelous length and two stately towers, it is named as the “eighth wonder of the world.” TIPS
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