A bridge between boroughs

As pedestrians tramp over the upper deck of the Brooklyn Bridge, past waving trinket sellers and countless love locks, the lower decks thrum with five lanes of endless New York City traffic. Back when the bridge opened, carriages and buggies were a much bigger congestion concern than cars: The Big Apple icon welcomed its first crossings over the East River way back in 1883, after a dangerous, daring, and decade-spanning construction process. Now more than 100,000 motor vehicles a day cross this main connection between Manhattan (up ahead, with One World Trade Center peeking through the bridge's steel cables) and NYC's most populous borough of Brooklyn (behind us to the southeast).