Brooklyn Department of City Works
Robert Van Buren, Chief Engineer
1888–89

The Carroll Street Bridge, a New York City individual landmark, is one of four of the oldest retractile bridges in the United States. It continues to operate today essentially as it did when it first opened. The bridge rolls horizontally on wheels on steel tracks to allow shipping to pass. The bridge is drawn in and out by cables from the engine or operator’s house on the west side of the canal and opens a 36-footwide channel in the canal. There is an original Belgian block approach, and the bridge is wooden-planked. From the bridge, one can view the wooden cribbing along the banks of the canal. The canal was originally constructed all of timber cribwork laid horizontally, dating from 1866 to 1930.