New York City Rental Car and the Brooklyn Bridge

The Brooklyn Vehicular Suspension is one of the city’s southernmost bridges connecting the lower Manhattan area to the borough of Brooklyn. Built in 1869-1883 the Brooklyn Bridge was the first steel-wire suspension bridge in the world spanning over 1,595 feet of the East River. Over 1,800 vehicles utilize the Brooklyn Bridge each day, providing passage for 150,300 people (include plenty of New York City car rental!). Designed by the famed John Augustus Roebling architectural firm in Trenton, New Jersey, the Brooklyn Bridge has become a local symbol of immense sophistication and grandeur. Built with aerodynamics in mind, the Brooklyn Bridge is both functional and aesthetically smart, providing New York City car rental customers with much more than a convenient passage. Recognized by the New York City Landmark Preservation Commission as one of the city’s 1,100 historically significant landmarks, the Brooklyn Bridge is well work a trip across the East River, so be sure to gas up your New York City car rental and check it out.

Starring the Brooklyn Bridge

Multiple Hollywood movies have featured the Brooklyn Bridge, or Brooklyn Bridge look-alikes throughout the years, including the following blockbusters:

  • At the beginning of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
  • Godzilla attacked the Brooklyn Bridge in the 1998 remake of Godzilla
  • A spanning shot of the bridge can be seen at the end of Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York film
  • A computerized version of the bridge is also featured in the animate flick Team America: World Police
  • Multiple Video games also use the Brooklyn Bridge as a prototype including SimCity 4: Rush Hour and Godzilla: Save the Earth.

Traveling on the Brooklyn Bridge

At present the Brooklyn Bridge carries six lanes of motor vehicle traffic, along with a separate level for bicycles and pedestrians. Back before cars became ultra popular the Brooklyn Bridge also carried horses, trolley cars and two lanes of elevated train traffic. Streetcars also used to run along the two central lanes of the bridge until the BMT discontinued the route in 1944. New York City car rentals are invited to utilize the Brooklyn Bridge free of charge, so don’t forget to check it out during an upcoming lower Manhattan adventure.

A Short History

At the time the Brooklyn Bridge was built there was no way of testing bridge aerodynamics, causing various problems for designer John Roebling. In the end Robeling decided to go all out, designing the truss system six times stronger than necessary. Thanks to Roebling’s foresight, the Brooklyn Bridge has survived upwards of 120 years of New York City traffic, whereas other bridges have collapsed under the stress. Although the Brooklyn Bridge is now considered on of the greatest landmarks in New York City, it was once considered to be cursed! Designer John Roebling was seriously injured just a few weeks into the construction process. He quickly contracted tetanus and was dead within weeks. His son and apprentice Washington Roebling succeeded John but it shortly contracted caisson disease due to working in compressed air conditions. Washington was robbed of his speech early on in the construction process, and his wife Emily was forced to relay messages from his sick bed down to the construction sight. Unable to leave his bed, Roebling watch from his window as the Brooklyn Bridge began to take shape.

Contemporaries of Roebling and even modern builders have continued to marvel at the engineering aspects of the Brooklyn Bridge, so don’t miss your chance to see it up close and personal during your upcoming New York City car rental vacation! Placed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 17, 1977, the Brooklyn Bridge was also named a National Historic Engineering Landmark in 1983.

New York City Tours - New York City's Most Comprehensive Sightseeing Tours. Our tour guides get off the shuttle with you and walk you through each attraction.