Famous Bridges

Look back into history of some of the famous bridges around the world

Look up to the tallest bridge in the United States at the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado. It is the tallest suspension bridge in the world, looming above the Arkansas River at 1,053 feet. You can even walk across the bridge’s wooden planks, if you can deal with the vertigo you may experience. Only taking six months to build, it cost $350,000 in 1929. This bridge was built with tourists in mind, not as a transportation mode. It is at the top of the list for visited attractions in Colorado.

See St. Petersburg Cathedral, The London Eye, Canary Wharf and so much more from the London Tower Bridge walkways in London, England. The two towers span over the Thames River with two glassed in walkways for pedestrians to walk. Previously, the London Bridge was the only way in and out of England’s capital city. As the only movable bridge on the Thames, it moved up and down over 1,000 times a year after it first opened in 1894. Today, very few ships travel down the Thames River and it only opens about 100 times annually.

Cross the Brooklyn Bridge by car and you will be among 144,000 other vehicles daily. This bridge boasts several “firsts” in the world of bridges. It was the first suspension bridge to use steel cable wires in its construction, and it was also the first to use caisson devices in explosions. When it was built in 1883, it was the longest suspension bridge at 3,460 feet. However, today the Japanese Akashi Kaikyo Bridge at 12,626 feet is the longest suspension bridge in the world.

Ride in a railway car over the Garabit Viaduct Bridge from the Garabit valley to the south of France. This famous red bridge was built from steel beams with triangle shaped holes in a truss pattern. This allowed the windy area’s bridge to remain stable rather than swaying when the wind hit it. This bridge was designed by none other than Gustave Eiffel, known as the famous architect of France’s Eiffel Tower.

There is enough cable wire from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to circle around the world several times. The men that worked on the bridge had a special name attached to them, the “Halfway to Hell Club.” That's how dangerous their jobs were. A safety net was strewn under the workers. It saved the lives of 19 of the bridge builders during it’s construction. A million vehicles, and counting, have gone over the Golden Gate since it was built in 1937.

Observe the remains of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge at the National Register of Historic Places. Its remains were dredged from Puget Sound for safe keeping. After its demise, bridges were never built in the same way again. When this bridge was completed in the 1940s, it got the name “Galloping Gertie” because of its rocking action. It actually made drivers and passengers car sick while driving over it. Thankfully, no lives were lost when it finally fell apart in 42 mph winds and crashed into the water below. The solid girders used in the construction of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge caused it to act in the unstable manner. A new type of construction eased the wind and kept bridges from excessive swaying.