Until the completion of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge in 1964, the Golden Gate Bridge held the record for the world's longest main span. Spanning the Golden Gate, a one-mile-wide strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean, the bridge links San Francisco to Marin County, carrying U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1. Built in 1937, it also accommodates pedestrian and bicycle traffic and is part of U.S. Bicycle Route 95. The name "Golden Gate" was given in 1846 by Captain John C. Frémont, drawing an analogy to the Golden Horn of the Bosporus in Turkey. The strait saw its first European ship, the San Carlos, in 1775, navigated by Juan Manuel de Ayala.
