This Day in Pop Culture for September 2

2013: The World’s Widest Bridge

The original San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opened on November 12, 1936 – six months before the Golden Gate Bridge. The bridge features two sections: the Western section, a double suspension bridge which connects Yerba Buena Island and the newer eastern section which connects the island to Oakland. In 1989, the Loma Prieta earthquake caused a section of the Eastern section’s upper deck to collapse onto the lower one and was closed for a month. Reconstruction of that section of the bridge began in 2002 and it was reopened on this day in 2013. It cost about $6.5 billion and was given the title of the world’s widest bridge according to Guinness World Records. (Image: Wikimedia)