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When it was completed in May 1883, New York City's Brooklyn Bridge was the largest suspension bridge in the world. Designed by John Augustus Roebling and completed by his son Washington Roebling, the Brooklyn Bridge spans New York's East River connecting the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. At 3,460-feet in length, it is considered one of the greatest engineering accomplishments of 19th-century.
The Brooklyn Bridge incorporated many engineering firsts including: The first suspension bridge to use steel cables and the first bridge to use explosives in a dangerous underwater device called a caisson. The two arched towers, built of limestone and granite, reach a height of 276 feet above the river. They support the four suspension cables 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.
The Brooklyn Bridge is currently nominated to be included as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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