Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
The Building of the Brooklyn Bridge (Part 2)
Bob Weinstein is a journalist who covers technology, project management, the workplace and career development.
John A. Roebling and his son Washington A. Roebling, engineers and PMs on the BrooklynBridge project, knew that building a suspension bridge linking the boroughs of Brooklyn and New York would be a difficult project. But they had no idea how difficult it would be and what hardships awaited them.
Like the beginning of any massive construction project, the two engineers poured over stacks of blueprints, numbers and specifications before the first cable was even cut. Here are few of the equipment numbers the Roeblings agonized over during the first weeks of construction:
-
Length of river span: 1595.5 feet
-
Total length of bridge: 5989 feet
-
Width of bridge floor: 85 feet
-
Suspension cables: four, each: 15.75 inches in diameter and 3578.5 feet long, containing 5434 wires each, for a total length of 3515 miles of wire per cable
-
Foundation depth below high water: Brooklyn: 44 feet 6 inches
Foundation depth below high water, Manhattan: 78 feet 6 inches -
Buttressed gothic towers’ material: Granite
-
Foundation depth below high water, 276 feet 6 inches
Roadway height above high water: 119 feet (at towers) -
Total weight, not including masonry: 14,680 tons
To put a few of these awesome numbers in perspective: The …
Please log in or sign up below to read the rest of the article.
ADVERTISEMENTS
|
"If I had known I was going to live so long, I would have taken better care of myself." - Eubie Blake |