December 19
SUSPENSION BRIDGE DAY
In 1903, the Williamsburg Bridge, named for the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, was opened across the East River in New York City. This was America’s first major suspension bridge (1600 feet). It cost $24,000,000 to build -- in 1903 dollars.
The Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York, completed in 1964, is the longest suspension bridge in the U.S. (4,260 ft.) For you West Coast fans, the Golden Gate is sixty feet shorter than the Verrazano.
Now we’ll end your suspense and tell you which suspension bridge is the longest in the world. It is the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in Japan, which cost about $3.8 billion. Opened on April 5, 1998, it links Shikoku, the smallest of Japan’s four main islands, with the biggest island of Honshu. The mid-section length, between the bridge’s two massive support towers, measures 6,529 feet (about 1,990 meters), making it over 1,900 feet longer than the previous record holder, the Humber Estuary Bridge in the United Kingdom. That span is 4,626 feet or 1,410 meters.
By definition, a suspension bridge is one with a deck suspended from cables anchored at their extremities and usually raised on towers.
Those Were the Days, the Today in History service from 440 International
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