Daily Overview

On this day in 1932, the Afsluitdijk was completed in the Netherlands. The 32-kilometer d**e and causeway separates the Wadden Sea from the IJsselmeer, sealing off the former Zuiderzee, a saltwater inlet of the North Sea, and gradually transforming it into a freshwater lake. In this Overview, an airplane and its contrail cut across the water beside a small section of the d**e, while the turbines of Windpark Fryslân rise from the IJsselmeer nearby. Made up of 89 turbines, the wind farm is one of the world’s largest built in inland water, adding a modern layer of Dutch engineering to a landscape long defined by the country’s effort to live with the sea.

Created by
Source imagery

Today marks 89 years since the Golden Gate Bridge first opened to pedestrians on May 27, 1937. Fifty years later, an estimated 300,000 people crowded onto the span for Bridgewalk ’87. Held on May 24, 1987, the celebration drew far more people than expected, packing the roadway so tightly that the bridge’s normally arched deck visibly flattened and reportedly sagged by as much as seven feet under the weight of the crowd. Engineers later said the bridge was not in danger, but the scene remains unforgettable: a day when one of the world’s most iconic bridges appeared to bend beneath the weight of the city celebrating it.

Image #5 via SF Chronicle / Deanne Fitzmaurice