Brooklyn Bridge Turns 125

A fireworks display kicks off the five-day 125th birthday celebration of the historic Brooklyn Bridge on Thursday, May 22, 2008, in New York. The celebration featured fireworks, a Navy flyover, a colourful new lighting scheme, a musical tribute to honor the storied span, and even a birthday cake in the shape of the bridge.

A Telectroscope is framed by the Brooklyn bridge, Thursday, May 22, 2008 in New York. New Yorkers could see their English cousins across the pond Thursday without benefit of cable TV or video conferencing, courtesy of an unusual live optical hookup created by conceptual artist Paul St George with a fanciful tale of a long-lost tunnel.

Lorena Yeves, left, 21 of Manhattan, and Elizabeth Castillo, right, 21 of San Pedro, Ca. are reflected in the Telectroscope glass as they speak on a cell phone with Tyrone, in London, Thursday, May 22, 2008 in the Brooklyn borough of New York. New Yorkers could see their English cousins across the pond courtesy of an unusual live optical hookup created by a conceptual artist with a fanciful tale of a long-lost tunnel.

The Brooklyn Bridge is photographed from the Brooklyn borough of New York on May 6, 2008. The bridge carries about 126,000 cars per day, at the city's last count in 2006, and is used by cyclists and pedestrians.

Fireworks explode near the Brooklyn Bridge on July 4, 2005. To celebrate the bridge's 125th birthday, a five-day party kicks off on May 22 with a performance by the Brooklyn Philharmonic at the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park in Brooklyn and a Grucci fireworks presentation.

Heavy fog engulfs the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. The national landmark turns 125 on May 24, 2008, and New York City has planned five days of activities including concerts, lectures, a film series and family events that kick off on May 22. The bridge will be lit up in an array of colored lights from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. from May 22 through Memorial Day.

An 1876 photo of construction on the east tower of the Brooklyn Bridge from the Brooklyn side of the East River. Construction began Jan. 3, 1870, and was finished 13 years later, opening on May 24, 1883. On completion, it was the largest suspension bridge in the world and the first steel-wire suspension bridge.

Spotlights illuminate the Brooklyn Bridge in New York during the filming of the Will Smith movie "I am Legend" on Jan. 23, 2007. Local residents were warned prior to the filming not to panic if they saw Army helicopters and vehicles in the area, because they were only part of the movie.

The bridge has had a special importance in times of difficulty when the usual means of crossing New York's East River have become unavailable --like blackouts and transit strikes. Here, people flee lower Manhattan across the Brooklyn Bridge following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

At various times, the bridge has carried horse-drawn and trolley traffic; at present, it has six lanes for motor vehicles, with a separate walkway along the centerline for pedestrians and bicycles. Here, commuters cross into Manhattan at dawn on Dec. 20, 2005, in New York, on the first day of a transit strike.

The cables of the Brooklyn Bridge are seen from the bike and foot path on Aug. 28, 2007. One of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States, it stretches 5,989 feet over the East River connecting the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964 and a National Historic Engineering Landmark in 1983.

Cyclists ride into Manhattan over New York's Brooklyn Bridge as the sun comes up through it's arches on Oct. 17, 1999. The bridge connects Brooklyn and Manhattan across the East River, and is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the country. It remains a powerful symbol of engineering might and imagination, and a revered fixture in the landscape of the nation's largest city.