Brooklyn Bridge · Carries: motor vehicles (cars only), elevated trains (until 1944), streetcars (until 1950), pedestrians and bicycles · Crosses: East River · Designer: John Augustus Roebling · Opened: May 24, 1883 · Total length: 1825 m · Architectural style: Gothic · Connects Manhattan and Brooklyn · Longest suspension bridge in the world until 1903 · The first steelwire suspension bridge · On the first day, 1800 vehicles and 150 300 people crossed Brooklyn Bridge · Emily Warren Roebling was the first to cross the bridge · The towers are built of limestone, granite and Rosendale cement Notable events
in the towers were widened. The oldest suspension bridge extant today is the Union Bridge over the River Tweed at Berwick (UK), a chain-link bridge designed and erected by Captain Samuel Brown in 1820, with a span of 449ft (137m). With the French declaring a moratorium on suspension-bridge construction following the collapse of the Basse-Chaine Bridge in 1850, the creative edge passed back across the Atlantic, to be picked up by Charles Ellet and John Augustus Roebling in the USA. After studying suspension bridges in France, Ellet returned with the technology and built a 1010ft (308m) bridge over the Ohio River at Wheeling, (West) Virginia, in 1849, which was the longest in the world. Thanks to techniques developed by the Roeblings and used in the structure's rebuilding, following a storm that ripped the cables off their saddles, the bridge remains in service today. Figure 17 Niagara Bridge (USA), whose completion in 1855 vindicated John Roebling's
Ameeriklased seevastu aga hakkasid otsima uusi võimalusi rippsildade jäigastamiseks, et katta suuremaid alasid ning võimaldada ka sillale rongiliiklust. Sildu tugevdati jäigastustalade ja kaldvantidega, et pidurdada pikivõnkumist ja saavutada suuremat stabiilsust. Samuti suurendati silla laiust, et tagada põikjäikus. Suureks väljakutseks Ameerikas sai Niagara joa kuristikku ületava silla ehitus. Silla projekteerijaks oli Roebling, keda peetakse rippsildade ehituse isaks. Ta töötas välja parima tarnidussüsteemi, jäiga sõidutee ja neid omavahel ühendava ripptrosside süsteemi ning lõi täpse arvutusteooria. Tema tippsaavutuseks võib pidada Brooklyni silda (ehituse lõpetas tema poeg), mis oli 43 aastat maailma pikim rippsild. Järgmise suurkujuna rippsillaehituses kerkis esile O. H. Ammann, kes projekteeris Bayonne, Priboroughi,
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