William Preston Lane Jr Bridge, also known as the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, crosses the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. Spanning the Chesapeake Bay, it connects the state's rural Eastern Shore region with the urban Western Shore. The original span opened in 1952 and with a length of 4.3 miles (6.9 km), was the world's longest continuous over-water steel structure; the parallel span was added in 1973.