What was the length of the original span of the bridge which made ocean beaches on the Eastern Shore of Maryland more accessible to visitors from Washington, D.C.?
Chesapeake Bay Bridge The Chesapeake Bay Bridge (commonly known as the "Bay Bridge") is a major dual-span bridge in the U.S. state of Maryland. Spanning the Chesapeake Bay, it connects the state's rural Eastern Shore region with the urban Western Shore. The original span, opened in 1952 and with a length of 4.3 mi , was the world's longest continuous over-water steel structure; the parallel span was added in 1973. The bridge is officially named the "Gov. William Preston Lane Jr. Memorial Bridge" after William Preston Lane Jr. who, as the 52nd Governor of Maryland, initiated its construction in the late 1940s finally after decades of political indecision and public controversy.
Port Mann Bridge The Port Mann Bridge is a 10-lane cable-stayed bridge that opened to traffic in 2012. It is currently the second longest cable-stayed bridge in North America and was the widest bridge in the world until the opening of the new Bay Bridge in California. The new bridge replaced a steel arch bridge that spanned the Fraser River, connecting Coquitlam to Surrey in British Columbia near Vancouver. The old bridge consisted of three spans with an orthotropic deck carrying five lanes of Trans-Canada Highway traffic, with approach spans of three steel plate girders and concrete deck. The total length of the previous Port Mann was 2093 m , including approach spans. The main span was 366 m , plus the two 110 m spans on either side. Volume on the old bridge was 127,000 trips per day. Approximately 8 percent of the traffic on the Port Mann bridge was truck traffic. The previous bridge was the longest arch bridge in Canada and third-longest in the world at the time of its inauguration.