Bridge building has had two time periods that can be looked at as golden ages. The first is in the late 19th century as the explosive growth of the railroads resulted in building a large number of big metal monsters to cross the untamed rivers of both the US and Europe. Prime examples of these include the Eads Bridge in Saint Louis, and the Forth Rail Bridge over the Firth Of Forth near Edinburgh, Scotland. The second golden age of bridge construction was in the middle half of the 20th century as many monumental suspension bridges were built. These were all national landmarks, giant works of industrial art, and epic construction projects. This was an era when technologies and materials were rapidly advancing, but modeling, testing, and computers were still decades in the future. This era saw successes like the Golden Gate Bridge and Oakland Bay Bridge, both in San Francisco, and colossal failures like the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

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