The question I decided to answer
was the identification of the challenges that were worth remembering during the
construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. Without a doubt, the construction of that
bridge required a great deal of confidence and diligence from Washington
Roebling and his father really stood out in completely this famous piece of
American culture.
When it
comes to the engineering difficulties of the project, one of the largest
obstacles was creating something as long and as tall as the Brooklyn Bridge. As
it stated in the video “it would be the largest most grandiose structure in all
of Manhattan and New York.” At the times when most of the buildings were only
six stories tall and considered sky high buildings, the Brooklyn Bridge was to
set the new standard of accomplishment. All they needed now was the
technological knowhow and ingenuity necessary to complete such an amazing feat.
Another
key obstacle that was overcome during the construction of the bridge was in the
supervision of the build from his home. Washington Roebling became ill due to
the constant depressurization and re-pressurization of going in and out from
the caisson. For the people of the time, they were unaware of what was
happening on the cellular level to the body when it takes such extreme changes
in condition. Noted of the rampant illness affecting people, Roebling decided
to go down anyway and continue his work and eventually succumbed to the
nitrogen gas forming in his brain. After he became too sick to go to the construction
sight, his wife took over dictations and served as his emissary to the sight.
Together the two of them managed to see through the completion of the bridge
and the finalization of a truly American dream.
At the
end of it all, the Brooklyn Bridge to this day still stands as one of the great
wonders of our great nation. It is plastered on postcards and depicted on television
as being the bridge to dwarf all bridges. One of the sources I used to help
understand the difficulties affiliated with constructing this bridge was The Great Bridge by David McCullough who
was also one of the speakers in the movie. As a key researcher in the field of
historic construction, he is to be considered a professional in the history of
the bridge and offers a great deal of insight in grasping the meaning behind
the bridge and just how difficult such a feat was to accomplish.
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