Brooklyn Bridge

The Brooklyn Bridge is a cable-stayed suspension bridge in New York City that spans the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. It opened on May 24, 1883, as the first fixed crossing of the East River, and at that time it was the longest suspension bridge in the world, with a main span of 1,595.5 feet (486.3 m). John A. Roebling designed it, and after his death his son Washington Roebling served as chief engineer, assisted by Washington's wife, the engineer Emily Warren Roebling. Construction began in 1870 under the New York Bridge Company and took thirteen years amid controversy over the novelty of the design. The span was first called the New York and Brooklyn Bridge or the East River Bridge and was officially renamed the Brooklyn Bridge in 1915. Including its approaches the bridge is 6,016 feet (1,834 m) long. After opening it carried horse-drawn vehicles and elevated railway lines until 1950, and it was renovated in the 1950s, 1980s and 2010s. It is now open to passenger vehicles, pedestrians and bicycles, and it is a National Historic Landmark and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.