Each of the two towers contains 1 million bolts and 3 million rivets.[3]
The diameter of each of the four suspension cables is 36 inches (914 mm). Each cable is composed of 26,108 wires amounting to a total of 143,000 miles (230,136 km) in length.[3]
Because of the height of the towers (693 ft or 211 m) and their distance apart (4,260 ft or 1,298 m), the curvature of the Earth's surface had to be taken into account when designing the bridge—the towers are 1 5⁄8 inches (41.275 mm) farther apart at their tops than at their bases.[13][3]
Because of thermal expansion of the steel cables, the bridge roadway is 12 feet (3.66 m) lower in summer than in winter.[14][3]
The bridge is affected by weather more than any other bridge in the city because of its size and isolated location close to the open ocean; it is occasionally closed, either partially or entirely, during strong wind and snow storms. Additionally, the bridge's two towers are the tallest structures in New York City outside of Manhattan, and are taller than the tallest non-Manhattan building, the 658-foot (201 m) One Court Square in Queens; its towers are also taller than the 604-foot (184 m) towers of the next tallest New York bridge, the George Washington Bridge. Because of the bridge's height, cruise ships and container ships that dock in New York City must be built to accommodate the clearance under the bridge. For example, the RMS Queen Mary 2 was designed with a flatter funnel to pass under the bridge, and has 13 feet (3.96 m) of clearance under the bridge during high tide.[15][3]