Mackinac Bridge is somewhat famous, built in the 1950s.

They more or less do continuous maintenance during the warmer months of the year.

(So older than 50, but younger than 100)

Michiganders will also know the "Z Bridge", completed in 1988

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zilwaukee_Bridge

Sticking with the mid-western therme, the Chicago Skyway was built in 1958

First span of the Blue Water Bridge (Port Huron to Sarnia) built 1938, doing just fine as far as I know. (Drove over it a couple of weekends ago.) Second span was 1997.

New York City has had two major recent new bridge replacements that probably about 20M people can name: the Mario Cuomo (formerly Tappan Zee) and the Kosciuszko bridge.

I’d argue the Bayonne Bridge raising kinda counts since it was almost a rebuild and more impressive in many ways since it stayed open the whole time.

Meanwhile in the San Francisco Bay Area they replaced the Bay Bridge…

The Tappan Zee bridge certainly wasn't built with the intention of replacing it after 65 years. Nor, fortunately, was the George Washington bridge.

The old Tappan Zee was basically a perfect encapsulation of "dumb midcentury infrastructure decisions."

1. Built to last only 50 years to save on materials (as the other commenter noted).

2. Built over literally the widest possible part of the Hudson because the governor got in a pissing contest with the Port Authority and wanted all the tolls to go to the state, which wouldn't have been the case had it been built like 2 miles south where the river is narrower.

3. Designed with zero redundancy, such that a "critical fracture could make the bridge fail completely because its supports couldn’t transfer the structure’s load to other supports." [0]

So yeah if we're being real, 50 years was quite optimistic.

The new Tappan Zee is apparently supposed to last 100 years, though given the incidents with substandard materials being used, as well as ever-increasing traffic, who knows.

That said, driving over a bridge 10 years past its planned EOL and being able to look down directly to the water through gaps in the concrete was always a nice feature though -- who needs coffee when you've got that to get your heart rate up!

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tappan_Zee_Bridge_(1955%E2%80%...

"dumb midcentury infrastructure decisions."

Keeping in mind that mid-century Japan and Germany were in ruins and the possibility of nuclear annihilation of urban centers very much at the top of many people minds. 50 years may have seemed an optimistic survival rate of built structures at the time.

> Started on the cheap during the Korean War, the Tappan Zee was deliberately built to last just 50 years.

https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/17/nyregion/a-bridge-that-ha...

I can't argue with that!

Agreed I was just addressing the parent poster question of whether anyone can name a major bridge built in the last fifty years…

The eastern span of the Bay Bridge, which had previously been a cantilever bridge, which was damaged during the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, and shown to have quite obvious seismic deficiencies.

Its replacement is a self-anchored suspension bridge.

The original western span, actually a double suspension bridge, remains standing, as constructed in 1933, 91 years ago.

So this detail… that is where my misconception arose. Thanks!

The western span had substantial seismic remediation applied in 2000-2001.

The Francis Scott Key bridge - the subject of this story - was finished in 1977, and took about 5 years, so... much of it was constructed in the last 50 years. ???

How many bridges, such as highway overpasses, that you use regularly can you name?

Here's an interesting list of major bridges with dates, most of the newer ones being replacements: https://www.carolinadesigns.com/obx-guide/fun-info/bridges/

They even note a rare exception designed to last 100 years with maintenance.

The Crimean bridge is quite (in)famous, and it was built quite recently.

The Millau Viaduct also comes to mind when thinking of famous, iconic modern bridges.

The Øresund Bridge as well (opened in 2000).

Most of the bridges I can think of in the state of Washington are much newer than that.

There are now two Tacoma Narrows Bridges. The oldest was built in 1950. The one that infamously collapsed was built in 1940. The newer bridge is from 2007. The West Seattle Bridge was closed due to damage in 2020 and reopened after repairs in 2022. It was originally built in the 1980’s after the previous bridge was hit by a ship. There are two floating bridges on I-90 east of Seattle. One of them sunk during reconstruction work in 1990 and was replaced. Theres also a new 520 floating bridge that opened in 2016. The Hood Canal Bridge (also a floating bridge) originally opened in 1961, sunk in 1979, was reopened in the 1980’s, and large parts of it were replaced in the 00’s.

The Ballard Bridge actually is over a century old! It was opened in 1917. However there was a lot of reconstruction done during the 1930’s. The Fremont Bridge is also from 1917. Both of these bridges span a ship canal that was built between 1911 and 1934. The Aurora Bridge was also built in the 1930’s.

I can't imagine how it is to be so insulated from the world to not be able to name a single major bridge construction in the past 50 years.

If you don’t live somewhere with famous/major bridges it’s really easy. I doubt I could name ten bridges period that aren’t in my mid-sized city (and I can only give the correct name for two of the ones here, neither of which is famous). I can only identify maybe four by sight from outside my city—I can name a few that I couldn’t pick out of a lineup of photos.

vincent thomas bridge in LA is from 1960 -- old but not 100+

There's a massive one being constructed right now - the Gordie Howe International Bridge. It'll be the second bridge (and fourth crossing) between Detroit and Windsor when it opens next year. Although maybe I only know of that one because I grew up in metro Detroit.

Depends on the "we" you're talking about, I guess.

In the DC/MD/VA area, almost all the bridges I can name are less than 100 years old. Woodrow Wilson, American Legion, Chesapeake Bay Bridge, Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, Key Bridge, Key Bridge, Nice Bridge, Memorial Bridge, Chain Bridge, 14th street bridges... Some of those were even built after 2000! Also the New River Gorge Bridge in WV is pretty famous and not even 50.

Well, actually, the Key Bridge (in DC) apparently turned 100 years old last year. And I guess the Long Bridge (though not a road bridge) is also over 100...

Living not too far outside Minneapolis, we rebuilt a bridge that rather famously came down a bit over 15 years ago.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-35W_Mississippi_River_bridge