Brooklyn Bridge: A Dead Man’s Work That Changed Engineering

John Augustus Roebling, the engineer who designed the Brooklyn Bridge, died before construction began. He was surveying the tower locations in 1869 when a ferry crushed his foot against a dock; he refused amputation, developed tetanus, and died within weeks. His son Washington Roebling took over the project and supervised construction from 1870 to 1883 - until he developed caisson disease (the bends) from repeated work in the pressurised underwater foundations and was bedridden. For the final decade of construction, Washington directed the work from his apartment window through binoculars, relaying instructions through his wife Emily, who learned enough engineering mathematics to serve as his on-site interpreter. The bridge was completed in 1883 with three Roeblings’ work embedded in it.

The bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world when it opened. Its 486-metre main span used steel wire cables for the first time in bridge construction, replacing the wrought iron that previous suspension bridges had used. The twin Gothic limestone towers were 84 metres tall, making them the tallest structures in the Western Hemisphere at the time.

Walking the Bridge

The pedestrian walkway runs down the centre of the bridge, elevated above the traffic lanes. The walk from the Manhattan side (start at City Hall Park, under the bridge on the lower Manhattan end) to DUMBO on the Brooklyn side takes about 30-45 minutes at a comfortable pace. The walk gives the view that photographs have been trying to replicate for 140 years: the New York harbour, the Brooklyn waterfront, the Manhattan skyline from mid-bridge.

Go early morning (before 08:00) or on weekday afternoons to avoid the densest pedestrian and cyclist traffic. The bridge is a popular cycling route and cyclists are legally entitled to use the designated lane; stay in the walking section.

DUMBO and Brooklyn Bridge Park

DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) at the Brooklyn end has the best street-level view of the bridge: the iconic Manhattan Bridge/Brooklyn Bridge double framing from Washington Street, with Manhattan in the background, is the photograph. Time Out Market in DUMBO has around 20 food vendors under one roof; Los Tacos No. 1 is the specific reason to go.

Brooklyn Bridge Park stretches along the Brooklyn waterfront for 1.3 miles, with piers that have lawns, sports facilities, and water access. The view from the park looking back at the bridge and up at the Manhattan skyline across the water is the better observation point for the bridge as a structure.

The River Café under the bridge on the Brooklyn side is one of New York’s more genuinely romantic restaurant locations; the view across the water at Manhattan is exceptional. Book ahead, not cheap, worth it for the setting.

Grimaldi’s Pizzeria coal-fired brick oven has been under and around the bridge since 1990. The queues are long on weekends; the pizza is worth them.

Getting There

Subway to the Manhattan starting point: take the 4, 5, or 6 to Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall, or the J, Z to Chambers Street. On the Brooklyn side: A, C, or F to Jay Street-MetroTech, or the 2, 3 to Clark Street. The bridge is free; the walk costs nothing.