Brooklyn Bridge a celebratory banquet at his house on the day of the bridge opening. Further festivity included the performance of a band, gunfire from ships, and a fireworks display. Since the New York and Brooklyn Bridge was the only one across the East River at that time, it was also called East River Bridge. On that first day, a total of 1,800 vehicles and 150,300 people crossed what was then the only land passage between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Emily Warren Roebling was the first to cross the bridge. The bridge's main span over the East River is 1,595 feet 6 inches
Brooklyn Bridge After the 2007 collapse of the I-35W highway bridge in Minneapolis, public attention focused on the condition of bridges across the U.S. "The New York Times" reported that the Brooklyn Bridge approach ramps received a rating of "poor" during its inspection in 2007. According to a NYC Department of Transportation spokesman, the poor rating did not indicate a dangerous state but rather implied it required renovation. A project (equivalent to US$ in ) to renovate the approaches began in 2010, with the full bridge renovation beginning in early 2011 which was originally scheduled to run until 2014, however the project