Bridge of the Americas

The Bridge of the Americas is another of the landmarks of Panama City. This steel monster weighs almost 17,000 tons and stretches 1654 metres long. It was built in 1962 at the entrance of the Panama Canal. It owes its construction to the United States, and was initially called Thatcher Ferry Bridge, in honour of Maurice H Thatcher, the member of the canal commission who proposed its creation. At 118 metres above the Pacific Ocean, the Bridge of the Americas was, until the opening of the Centennial Bridge in 2004, the only road link between North America and South America. It is part of the Pan American Highway, and carries thousands of vehicles daily, so traffic jams are common.