This post has been brought to you by every time someone compared the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco with Ponte 25 de Abril in Lisbon. Both are suspension bridges and both are red, but are those two things really enough to warrant all the comparisons? I dug through my archives for pictures of both, let’s take a look…
To give you an idea of how often these two bridges are compared, the official website for the Golden Gate Bridge has a section about 25 of Abril Bridge:
WHAT OTHER NOT-SO-FAMOUS SUSPENSION BRIDGE IS PAINTED THE SAME COLOR AS THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE?
The 25 de Abril Bridge, or the “25th of April Bridge,” is a suspension bridge connecting the city of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, to the municipality of Almada on the left bank of the Tejo River. It was inaugurated on August 6, 1966, and a train platform was added in 1999. Because of its similar coloring, it is often compared to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. It was built by the same company (American Bridge Company) that constructed the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (but not the Golden Gate Bridge), explaining its similarity in design to the Bay Bridge. With a total length of 2,277 meters, it is the 20th largest suspension bridge in the world. The upper platform carries six car lanes, the lower platform two train tracks. Until 1974, the bridge was named Salazar Bridge.
San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge
Don’t let the colour fool you: the Bay Bridge is quite similar to the 25 de Abril Bridge. Take a look:
San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge
San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge
Back to the Golden Gate Bridge for some stats:
Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
Golden Gate Bridge
Total length: 8,981 ft (2,737.4 m), about 1.7 mi (2.7 km)
Width: 90 ft (27.4 m)
Height: 746 ft (227.4 m)
Longest span: 4,200 ft (1,280.2 m)
Opened: May 27, 1937
Daily traffic: 110,000
Toll: Cars (southbound only) / $7.50 (Pay by plate), $6.50 (FasTrak), $4.50 (carpools during peak hours, FasTrak only)
Source: Wikipedia
25 de Abril Bridge, Lisbon
Ponte 25 de Abril
Total length: 2,277.64 m
Longest span: 1,012.88 m
Opened: 6 August 1966
Daily traffic: 150,000 cars, 157 trains
Toll: €1.65 (northbound, Mar 2014)
Source: Wikipedia
Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
25 de Abril Bridge, Lisbon
Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
25 de Abril Bridge, Lisbon
Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
25 de Abril Bridge, Lisbon
So what do you think? Are they THAT similar? Have you seen both and did you compare them, too?
I don’t know why, but I never compared them. It wasn’t until I heard people mention it and I kept reading it in blogs that I wondered if a crappy memory was to blame. But I also read somewhere that Forth Road Bridge in Edinburgh is a sister bridge, and despite having lived in Edinburgh for two years, I never made that comparison, either.
The Time I Got Out of Paying A Toll… By Being Canadian
I believe it was Spring 2001. I drove to San Francisco directly from Vancouver (14+ hours!) for Easter break to help a friend move to California. I was entering the on-ramp for the Golden Gate Bridge and reached the toll booth in a panic after digging out my wallet and realizing I had only Canadian money on hand (maybe they take credit cards now but they didn’t back then). I explained this to the person at the toll booth, hoping he wouldn’t start lecturing me (New York toll booth staff have yelled at me for one thing or another). He took one look at my license plates, said “Canadian?” and once I nodded, he waved me through…
