Our Arlo Hotel staff members love the Brooklyn Bridge. It personifies New York City. An icon of the city that’s been around for 152 years (completed in 1883) and remains an engineering and architectural marvel. When it opened it was the longest suspension bridge in the world, spanning 1,595 feet with a massive deck that stood more than 125 feet from the water. It’s an example of Gothic Revival architecture and contains many wonderful design elements that can be appreciated from far and up close. The bridge was known by several names during its early years and received the iconic Brooklyn Bridge name in 1915.
Walking over the bridge on the pedestrian walkway is a 1.1-mile journey. Thousands of people take this trip every day, on bikes or on foot. We recommend going across in the morning, having lunch in Brooklyn at perhaps Grimaldi’s Pizzeria to fuel up, and then doing the return journey. Heading back to Manhattan on the bridge puts the NYC skyline in view. Another popular (and shorter) alternative that we at Arlo Hotel endorse is to take the subway or an Uber over to the Brooklyn side and then walk across to Manhattan. Walkers and bikers move across the bridge on an elevated promenade that sits about 18 feet above the car and truck traffic lanes.
A massive bridge renovation project finished in 2016 cost more than $800 million and involved improvements to the approach ramps, earthquake retrofitting, resurfacing the road deck, and various other improvements. An interesting fact about the bridge’s history is the massive foundations were previously used as wine cellars as they’re a consistently cool temperature. Renting out these spaces helped to finance the bridge and provided people a fun place to store their bubbly.