Monday, May 24, 2010

Sarah Ritchie reminds me that today the Brooklyn Bridge is 127 years old.

Every time I visit New York, I am stunned at what a remarkable human accomplishment it is. I think there is a pretty good chance that among the most important contributors to that accomplishment are its bridges and tunnels.

I cannot think of any city in the world with remotely as many impressive bridges. The names roll off the tongue: Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsberg, 59th Street, George Washington, Verrazano, Throg's Neck and Whitestone. London, Paris, Rome and Seoul have very nice bridges, too, but because their rivers are so much narrower than the East (yes, I know it's not really a river) and Hudson, the bridges don't quite so stir my imagination. San Francisco's bridges span great distances, but there are only two that are impressive (the San Matao and Dumberton bridges are just strips of pavements on pillars, and the Richmond Bridge is, well, "interesting").

So happy birthday to Brooklyn Bridge, the first of a wonderful family.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I agree with you that there are really rare bridges in the world like Brooklyn and the most amazing thing which I always wonder that the people and architectures of this bridge must be great people as at that time technology and tools are not so advance and how did they make this dream kind of thing in reality by building such amazing bridge. On the birthday of Brooklyn bridge, I would like to give grand salute to that guys.
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