History of the Brooklyn Bridge

John Roebling, the creative genius behind the Brooklyn Bridge project, had first envisioned it in 1852 after having witnessed the horrible delays caused by the East River choked with ice. However, because of suspicions among the public of whether a bridge that would have to be wide enough to allow boats to pass under it and strong enough to sustain the terrible winds and powerful currents of the river was possible, the project seemed unrealistic. The winter of 1866/1867, which was one of the worst ever recorded in New York, forced the people of Brooklyn to demand a bridge. As a result, on April 16, 1867, the New York legislature passed a bill which would “incorporate the New York Bridge Company, for the purpose of constructing and maintaining a bridge over the East River, between the cities of New York and Brooklyn.” (1, pg. 16) By June of 1869, John Roebling had completed the design for the bridge and work could finally begin. However, due to an unfortunate on-site accident, Roebling died shortly thereafter. All responsibility for the bridge was assumed by his son, Washington Roebling, who was named the new chief engineer.
Time Management – Include time estimates for each stage of wbs Construction on the bridge began in fall of 1869 and was completed May 1883, taking the bridge about fourteen years to build. Despite having as talented a chief engineer as Washington Roebling who provided very detailed plans for workers to follow, “the bridge had taken two and one half times as long as the five years John Roebling had predicted”. (1, pg. 104) This is in part due to some of the unforeseen problems with caissons, the underwater foundation Washington Roebling had decided to build the bridge upon, which at the time had been “used for small bridges in Europe, but the ones for the Brooklyn Bridge had to be much bigger.” (3, pg. 16) On the other hand, some unexpected caisson problems were dealt with successfully, thereby, avoiding additional delays.
Construction on

References: (1) The Brooklyn Bridge by Judith St. George (2) The Great Bridge by David McCullough (3) The Brooklyn Bridge by Elizabeth Mann