BROOKLYN BRIDGE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLV, Issue 10169, 28 July 1924, Page 5

BROOKLYN BRIDGE

ONE OF THE WORLD’S WONDERS, Brooklyn Bridge holds its own, notwithstanding rivals for its honours, says the “New York Times.” Whoeverr disagrees needs only present himself at the City Hall and declare that the Brooklyn Bridge is “going out.” ' His self-assurance will collapse before onslaughts of protest and reproach. The Brooklyn Bridge has been surpassed. It has ceased to be classed as a wonder of the world. While traffic on the other! bridges has increased, the number of street and elevated cars passing daily over Brooklyn Bridge since 1921 has decreased 2 per cent.; the number of passengers on these cars, 27 per cent., and the number of vehicles almost 80 per cent. But sentiment, not business, is the strong suit of the Brooklyn Bridge. So declares Edward A. Byrne, Chief Engineer of the Department of Plant and Structures. Although part of its traffic has been diverted elsewhere, the Brooklyn Bridge remains the favourite of pedestrians. “The old bridge is more popular now than it ever was before,” says Mr! Byrne. “Those who say no one everhears anything about it nowadays don’t know their subject. From all over the. country people flo<k to see it as much as they ever did. You never hear much about people walking on the other bridges. But look at the Brooklyn Bridge. In the summer those who live near it on the other side of the river use it as they would use a park. On the Manhattan side it is a favourite place for a walk when the ground is wet.” . The worn floorboards, now being replaced, are evidence of what the bridge has meant to pedestrians, one of its frequenters pointed out. “If you think the bridge is passing,” he said, “you ought to be here on any Sunday afternoon. It seems as if all the fathers m New York bring their children here to' see just how a big bridge is built. Sightseers by the thousands! The other day I heard a middle-aged woman exclaim, with a Southern accent: ‘How I. have dreamed of seeing the Brooklyn Bridge ! Poor papa always told me never to miss it if I ever came to New York. I wonder what he would think if he: could see all the other bridges, too.’