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Yes, during construction, a combination of the recommendation of one of his most trusted collaborators, William Paine (also a civil war brother in arms of Washington Roebling), and the fact that the sponsors were contemplating running Pullman train cars across the bridge led to the unprecedented decision to go 100% steel.

As an aside, Washington Roebling's father was remembered as a great engineer, but he was also an incredibly abusive and cruel husband and father, leaving Washington with significant psychiatric sequelae that affected him throughout his life:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/08/books/review/erica-wagner...