By the numbers
Brooklyn Bridge Facts & Figures
The span, the towers, the cables and the record-setting dates — the verified figures, with ranges where sources differ.
Numbers tell the Brooklyn Bridge story almost as well as the pictures do. Here are the figures that matter, from the span and the tower height to the depth of the caissons and how many people crossed on opening day. Where sources disagree — construction deaths and modern traffic counts both vary a little — the range is given rather than a single false-precise number.
| Detail | Figure |
|---|---|
| Opened | May 24, 1883 |
| Construction began | January 3, 1870 (about 14 years to build) |
| Designer | John A. Roebling; completed by Washington & Emily Warren Roebling |
| Main span | 1,595.5 feet (486 m) over the East River |
| Total length | 5,989 feet (about 1.13 miles / 1.8 km) |
| Tower height | About 276 feet (84 m) above the water |
| Tower material | Granite, limestone and Rosendale cement |
| Main cables | Four; the first steel-wire cables used on any bridge |
| Design type | Hybrid suspension and diagonal cable-stay |
| Record at opening | Longest suspension span in the world (until 1903) |
| Brooklyn caisson depth | About 44 feet below the river |
| Manhattan caisson depth | About 78 feet (stopped on sand, not bedrock) |
| Workers who died building it | At least 20, by some counts about 27 |
| Opening-day crossings | Roughly 150,000 people in 24 hours |
| 1883 stampede | May 30, 1883 — about 12 killed in a panic |
| Barnum’s elephants | 21 led across on May 17, 1884 |
| Promenade access | Free and open 24 hours a day |
| Promenade length | About 1.1 miles (1.8 km) to walk across |
| Bike lane | Dedicated protected two-way lane since 2021 |
| Daily traffic today | Roughly 120,000–145,000 vehicles (approx.) |
| Daily walkers & cyclists | Tens of thousands, plus thousands of cyclists |
| Status | National Historic Landmark (NPS) |
| Connects | Lower Manhattan (City Hall) and DUMBO, Brooklyn |
| Nearest Manhattan subway | 4/5/6, J/Z, R/W near City Hall |
| Nearest Brooklyn subway | A/C High St, 2/3 Clark St, F York St |
| Brooklyn Bridge Park | 85-acre (34 ha) waterfront park at the Brooklyn end |
Reading the numbers
The headline figure is the 1,595.5-foot main span: when it opened in 1883 no suspension bridge on earth reached as far between towers. The towers themselves rise about 276 feet, built from granite, limestone and Rosendale cement, and were among the tallest structures in New York at the time. Four steel-wire cables carry the deck — the first time steel wire had been used this way, a gamble that set the template for every great suspension bridge that followed.
Below the water, the two towers stand on foundations sunk inside pressurised caissons, 44 feet down on the Brooklyn side and about 78 feet on the Manhattan side, where the crews stopped on firm sand rather than chase bedrock deeper still. That depth, and the compressed air the men worked in, is what caused the caisson disease that disabled the bridge’s own chief engineer.
The everyday numbers are just as striking: a walk of about 1.1 miles, open every hour of every day, free of charge, above a roadway that still carries well over a hundred thousand vehicles daily more than 140 years after it opened.
Compare every guided walk, cruise, bike ride and food tour in one place on Brooklyn Bridge Tours — with the free ways to cross the bridge spelled out.