historyWikipedia1936 · San Francisco, USA

The Bay Bridge opened six months before the Golden Gate, after a self-proclaimed emperor urged it

the gist

The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opened to traffic on 12 November 1936, six months before the Golden Gate Bridge. It was designed by Charles H. Purcell and built by the American Bridge Company, with construction beginning in 1933. It was originally a toll bridge with cars on the upper deck and trucks, buses and commuter trains on the lower. After the Key System ended its rail service in 1958 the lower deck turned over to road traffic as well. Today it carries about 260,000 vehicles a day.

so what

The Bay Bridge links San Francisco and Oakland and is a major part of Interstate 80. Its idea dates to the Gold Rush era, when 'Emperor' Joshua Norton, a San Francisco eccentric, famously argued for it around 1855–1860.

fun fact

Joshua Norton proclaimed himself 'Emperor of the United States' and was a beloved San Francisco character.

Adapted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Image: Wikimedia Commons