Golden Gate Bridge travel guide describes the Golden Gate Bridge as "possibly the most beautiful, certainly the most photographed, bridge in the world." At the time of its opening in 1937, it was both the longest and the tallest suspension bridge in the world, with a main span of and a total height of . Before the bridge was built, the only practical short route between San Francisco and what is now Marin County was by boat across a section of San Francisco Bay. A ferry service began as early as 1820, with a regularly scheduled service beginning in the 1840s for the
West Gate Bridge dual-carriageway freeway bridge. The freeway corridor (including the bridge itself) carries a very high volume and occupancy of traffic, between 180,000 - 200,000 cars / trucks / motorcycles use it per day, according to VicRoads. This makes the West Gate Bridge and West Gate Freeway one of the busiest road corridors in Australia. However, being the only main direct link between Melbourne's CBD and the West, it is frequently congested during the morning and afternoon peaks (despite having 5 lanes in each direction) and is constantly busy 24/7, due to the number and type of vehicles coming in and out