Eye on Brooklyn Bridge
Up here on the Brooklyn Bridge, you can see the DUMBO Clocktower Building off in the distance. INBrooklyn photos by Lore Croghan
Brooklyn Bridge Pedestrian Congestion Eases After the Holidays — Continued from page 11INB — holding a child fainted and fell, and a man fell on top of her. People who couldn’t see what had happened “became panic stricken with the idea that the bridge had broken,” the story says. Among the deceased was Margaret Sullivan, age 15, who “fell under the feet of the struggling throng and was taken out dead” because her father failed to save her, the Eagle story says. He had handed over her younger sister Kate to somebody else, and Kate survived. A surgeon at Chambers Street Hospital, where the dead were taken, said most apparently suffocated or succumbed to internal injuries.
It needs to be safe even when crowds swell in late December because people from all over the world come to our city to celebrate New Year’s Eve. Pedestrians need more room on the bridge. So do cyclists. We’re ardently hoping the city decides to expand the bridge promenade, which would be a step in the right direction. A city Department of Transportation report about the promenade published in December 2017 recommended a two-year inspection of bridge cables to figure out if they can bear the extra weight of a larger promenade. A Transportation Department spokesperson cited in Gothamist’s story about the Dec. 29 bridge overcrowding said the inspection is expected to start this year.
PLEASE MAKE THE ROEBLINGS’ MASTERWORK MORE PEDESTRIAN-FRIENDLY Now, back to the present day. The Brooklyn Bridge has been a city landmark since 1967. It is the borough’s Number 1 tourist attraction. It is arguably Brooklyn’s most beautiful structure. As the first bridge to connect Brooklyn and Manhattan, its historic importance is huge. John Roebling, his son Washington Roebling and Washington’s wife Emily Warren Roebling spearheaded its construction between 1867 and 1883. Its granite towers’ Gothic arches are iconic and Instagram-worthy. The 1.1-mile bridge needs to be a safe place for pedestrians and bike riders — every day of the year.
This spot on the Brooklyn Bridge is Selfie Central.
12INB Press/Home Reporter/Brooklyn Spectator/Brooklyn Record/Greenpoint Gazette • Week of JanuaryGazette 10-16, 2019 12INB •• INBROOKLYN INBROOKLYN— —AASpecial SpecialSection SectionofofBrooklyn BrooklynEagle/Heights Daily Eagle/Brooklyn Eagle/Heights Press/Home Reporter/Brooklyn Spectator/Brooklyn Record/Greenpoint • Week of January 10- 16, 2019