The Benjamin Franklin Bridge spanning the Delaware River on a beautiful day.
Suspension bridge lengths are measured from span to span, not by measuring the length of the road deck. When it opened on July 1, 1926 the Ben Franklin – then named the Delaware River Bridge – was the longest suspension bridge in the world, with a span length of 1,750 feet, topping the Bear Mountain Bridge in New York’s Hudson Highlands by 132 feet. Three years later the Ambassador Bridge connecting Detroit and Ontario took over the honors, which in turn was eclipsed by the George Washington Bridge in New York, a mammoth construction almost twice the length of any bridge that came before it.
According to Wikipedia the Ben Franklin, which connects downtown Philadelphia with Camden and the New Jersey suburbs beyond, is now the 64th-longest suspension bridge in the world, though was in the top 10 until 1957, the year the Walt Whitman Bridge was built, 250 feet longer and just a few miles to the south.
Here’s more information about the bridge.
Christian Carollo is a freelance photographer based in the suburbs of Philadelphia Pennsylvania. He has lived near Philadelphia his entire life and has a great appreciation for the culture, beauty, passion, and history the city has to offer.
