North American Bridges Trivia Quiz

Answer: Brooklyn and Manhattan

The bridge crosses the East River between Brooklyn and Manhattan. Construction began in 1870 and lasted 13 years. The span is a suspension bridge and was designed by famed engineer John Augustus Roebling. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964.

Brooklyn was an independent city until its consolidation into New York City in 1898.

Answer: The Overseas Highway

The Seven Mile Bridge connects the Upper and Lower Florida Keys. The portion of US Route 1 that traverses the keys is called the Overseas Highway because so much of the roadway consists of bridges between the hundreds of islands in the Florida Keys. The original bridge was constructed in 1912 as a railway crossing.

The current bridge replaced the older span in 1982. The older bridge still exists parallel to the modern span but no longer carries traffic. The bridge was featured in the climatic chase scene in the Hollywood film 'True Lies' starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis.

Answer: Orange

International Orange was chosen as the color of the bridge because it complimented the rocky outcroppings of the Marin Headlands at the northern end of the bridge and still enhanced the bridge's visibility in foggy conditions.

Answer: Arizona

McCulloch purchased London Bridge for $2.5 million and had it shipped to Lake Havasu City, Arizona, a resort community that he was developing. The bridge is now Arizona's second most popular tourist attraction after the Grand Canyon.

Answer: Galloping Gertie

Aerodynamics in bridge design were not well understood in the 1940s. The Tacoma Narrows is an area of frequent high winds and these winds caused something called aeroelastic flutter. This caused the bridge to oscillate heavily even in relatively moderate winds.

This vibration lead to the locals to give the bridge the nickname "Galloping Gertie". November 1, 1940 was a particularly windy day and the bridge literally ripped itself apart. Fortunately no one was killed in the disaster. The film showing the collapse is one of the most famous pieces of footage in history and is frequently shown to engineering students as a cautionary tale.

A new, more stable, bridge was constructed on the site in 1950.

Answer: Prince Edward Island

The bridge carries the Trans-Canada Highway between Cape Jourimain, New Brunswick on Canada's mainland and Borden-Carleton, Prince Edward Island. The bridge is 12.9 kilometers (8.1 miles) long and was designed to withstand the heavy winter sea ice in the Northumberland Strait. Prince Edward Island is the only province in Canada that has no land borders with any other province. Prior to the completion of the bridge the only vehicular access to the province was via car ferry.

The bridge's completion was hailed as a great leap forward in unifying the country's infrastructure.

The current toll for a car to cross the bridge is C$44.25 though it's collected only on cars leaving Prince Edward Island.

Answer: The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway

The damage to the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway was extensive but mostly superficial and the span was quickly reopened an used as a main entry point for relief workers. At 41.58 km (25.84 mi), the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in China is longer than the 23.83 mile (38.35 km) Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, but its span is not continuous. Both spans will be surpassed by the 50.0 km (31.1 mi) long Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge in souther China when it is scheduled to open in 2016.

Answer: Niagara Falls, New York and Niagara Falls, Ontario

The Rainbow Bridge crosses the Niagara River less than a mile downstream from Niagara Falls and is named for the frequent rainbows caused by the mist of the fall. King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth (later known as the Queen Mother) dedicated the bridge's construction site in 1939.

The Peace Bridge is the main crossing between Buffalo and Fort Erie. The Detroit-Windsor Tunnel is the primary crossing Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. The Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge crosses the Ste. Marie River between the twin towns of Sault Ste. Marie.

Answer: Both of these are correct

The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge is essentially three bridges strung together. The western span is two suspension bridges traveling from the San Francisco shore to Yerba Buena Island in the middle of the bay anchored by a central concrete pier. The eastern span is a cantilever bridge taking traffic from Yerba Buena Island to Oakland.

The two western spans were ranked as the second and third largest suspension bridges in the world and when put together they made the longest suspended-deck bridge in the world.

The eastern span was the longest cantilever bridge in the world. The roadway across Yerba Buena Island features a tunnel through a mountain in the center of the island.

Answer: Staten Island and Brooklyn

The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time it was constructed and is still the longest suspension bridge in the United States. The bridge has caused many to incorrectly believe that the body of water it crosses is called Verrazano Narrows.

In fact it is simply called 'The Narrows'. The first part of the name comes from explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano, the first European to explore New York Harbor.