Icons |
Few creations of man define a place, an era, and a people like an icon bridge. Bridges are designed to provide access from one side of a separation to the other in a safe, functional, economic, and aesthetically-pleasing manner; icon bridges, however, serve an even greater function. They become an integral part of the identity of a place and its people, and they, in fact, help to shape that identity.
What makes a bridge an icon bridge? Are there any defining characteristics that allow us to label a bridge as an icon bridge?
Based on responses to a survey about icon bridges, as well as information garnered from bridge engineering references, the following are some of the defining characteristics of icon bridges. Although an icon bridge may not necessarily possess all of these characteristics, it can be judged based on the number and the extent of these qualities that it possesses.
When you think of an icon bridge, what structures immediately come to mind? What bridges have left an indelible impression on you, transcending the normal bridge crossing and bearing the marks of an icon?
While responses to this question may differ, the following structures are generally recognized by bridge engineers and the public as passing the marks of an icon bridge with flying colors. These bridges have become icons for the people they serve and the places they grace.
The Brooklyn Bridge was constructed between 1870 and 1883 and stands today as one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States.
It was the first steel cable suspension bridge and the first bridge to use pneumatic caissons. It was also 50% longer (in total length) than any
other suspension bridge in the world when it opened on May 24, 1883 at 2:00 PM. The bridge’s total construction cost was $15.1 million, and
its initial toll was 3 cents.
When construction began in 1870, Brooklyn was the fastest growing city in the country, and the need for a crossing was growing. John Augustus Roebling was appointed “Chief Engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge” on May 23, 1867, at a salary of $8,000 per year. Designed and constructed by both John Roebling and his son, Washington Roebling, the bridge cost them both dearly. John Roebling died from lockjaw 16 days after an accident in which his foot was crushed while taking observations to determine the exact location of the Brooklyn tower. Washington Roebling was stricken by caisson disease during its construction and became an invalid.
A report to the New York Bridge Company on September 1, 1867, three years before construction began, accurately anticipated: “The contemplated work, when constructed in accordance with my design, will not only be the greatest bridge in existence, but it will be the great engineering work of the Continent and of the age. Its most conspicuous features – the great towers – will serve as landmarks to the adjoining cities, and they will be entitled to be ranked as national monuments. As a great work of art, and a successful specimen of advanced bridge engineering, the structure will forever testify to the energy, enterprise, and wealth of that community which shall secure its erection.” This report proved to be true, and the Brooklyn Bridge has become an iconic part of the New York City skyline and of Americana.
The Golden Gate Bridge is one of the most admired and beloved bridges in the world. Opened to traffic on May 28, 1937 with a 4,200-foot-long suspension span, it possessed the longest span in the world for 27 years until it was surpassed by the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in 1964. It was constructed using approximately 1.2 million rivets in the two towers and at a total cost of approximately $1.2 billion (in today’s dollars). The steel used to construct the bridge was fabricated by Bethlehem Steel in New Jersey, Maryland, and Pennsylvania and was shipped through the Panama Canal to San Francisco. Ten prime contractors, none of which remains in business, build the great structure over a period of just over four years.
The bridge’s Chief Engineer, Joseph B. Strauss, was a prolific engineer, designing approximately 400 drawbridges across the United States. However, he dreamed of building “the biggest thing of its kind that a man could build.” During the design and construction of the bridge, Strauss faced not only the engineering challenges of building the world’s longest span, but also financial and social obstacles, as well as the powerful forces of wind, tide, fog, and ocean currents. Despite the use of innovative safety measures, eleven construction workers lost their lives during construction. Another nineteen were rescued by the safety nets suspended under the bridge floor from end to end.
The Golden Gate Bridge continues to be admired today for the grace of its form, the stature of its towers, and the harmonious blending of the bridge with its setting. Its famous orange vermilion color, deemed “International Orange” and selected by Consulting Architect Irving Morrow, blends well with the span’s natural setting. With more than 1.7 billion vehicles having crossed the bridge since its opening in 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge remains one of the greatest bridges and most iconic structures the world has ever seen.