The Brooklyn Bridge

A few weeks ago I bought the DVD of one of Ken Burns first movies about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge.

I was able to take the subway to from Grand Central Station and joined the crowds.

I walked to the middle of the bridge. It was completed in 1893 and was at the time the largest suspension bridge in the world and the first to be made of steel. The bridge took 16 years to build, required 600 workers and claimed 20 lives. Most of those who died suffered from “caisson disease” after coming up from underwater excavation chambers. It is now known that caisson disease is due to nitrogen bubbles in the brain that form if people decompress too quickly (such as underwater divers).

The bridge used new and revolutionary building techniques, from making the cable wires to sinking the supports.