How Did Roebling Build The Brooklyn Bridge

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Human Aspects John Augustus Roebling was the one who had an idea of construction the Brooklyn Bridge, the longest, strongest bridge in the world and the highest towers over the city in the 19th century. He was ambitious to build the bridge across from Manhattan to Brooklyn although it would be the most dangerous bridge being built. With his comprehensive knowledge in this field, he was appointed to be the chief engineer. During the survey at the site for Brooklyn Bridge, his foot was crushed by a ferry in an accident. He refused all the treatment for the doctor and believed he could cure himself by water therapy. His stubbornness was deteriorating his condition and eventually brought him to fatal. Washington Roebling, son of John, was taking over his dad’s duty as a chief engineer after John was dead as he was promised him to finish the construction of the bridge. Being a responsible engineer, he worked and supervised in the caissons for a long time to ensure the safety of the workers and the progress of the construction. When meeting with setbacks, he was determined and did not give up easily. This was shown when he was still worried about the on-going project although he was having serious decompression sickness. Washington’s wife, Emily Roebling, was a diligent and dedicated woman. She learned the knowledge and skills …show more content…

The longest span suspension of the Brooklyn Bridge was a huge challenge for the engineers. It would be very risky as there was no such length of the span of the bridge was being built ever. In the 19th century, the crude technology was used to build the vision of John Roebling. The workers were needed to dig the sediment using the spades in the caissons which were filled with compressed air. Moreover, with the increasing depth of the location of caissons, the rocks were hard and more difficult to remove them. Because of this reason, the progress of the project was greatly