Brooklyn Bridge, NY Webcam

Category: Urban

The Brooklyn Bridge, one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States, stretches 5,989 feet over the East River, connecting the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn (on Long Island).

Upon completion, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world, the first steel-wire suspension bridge, and the first bridge to connect to Long Island. Construction began on January 3, 1870. The Brooklyn Bridge was completed thirteen years later and was opened for use on May 24, 1883.

The bridge was designed by German-born John Augustus Roebling in Trenton, New Jersey. During surveying for the East River Bridge project, Roebling’s foot was badly injured by a ferry, pinning it against a pylon; within a few weeks, he died of tetanus.

His son, Washington, succeeded him, but in 1872 was stricken with caisson disease (decompression sickness, commonly known as “the bends”), due to working in compressed air in caissons.