in a book by McCullough it says "The inclined stays would have a strength of 15,000 tons,enough to hold the floor by themselves.If all four cable were to fail , the main span would not collapse.it would sag at the center but would not fail"
i am guessing this is why the top beam and bottom...
why did john roebling design the truss to have longitudinal top and bottom chords as continous?
see picture here
http://www.archives.gov/press/press-kits/picturing-the-century-photos/images/pedestrians-on-brooklyn-bridge.jpg
