Watch: Thousands visit Ben Franklin Bridge for 100th birthday celebration

A hundred years ago, in 1926, my grandmother and her four sisters crossed this bridge and I thought I got to bring them along with me now. The Del River Bridge, which is now known as the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, opened in July of 1926. Well, when the bridge opened, we had ceremonies on both sides of the river. We opened the bridge to pedestrians and allowed them to walk across the bridge. It's the first time for everything. Speeches were given by politicians as well as the engineers, and today we are having a celebration commemorating the 100th anniversary of the bridge. One bridge, two cities! We got Camden and Philly coming together. My family's in Philadelphia. I live in New Jersey, so I've always been using the bridge since I was born, pretty much. It's a big celebration. It's fun. We're going to have a lot of different activities for the kids, for families. It means a lot. It's like being a part of history. I rode every morning the Patco Speedline over this bridge, so it's connected us to so many different things. I walk the bridge to go to work. This bridge is a lifeline for both of us right now. The heart and soul of our Delhi community. It's amazing. You have a different appreciation for it when you're on your feet. There's an annual run across the bridge in November, and we've all done that as runners. So it's like homecoming again, I guess. Happy birthday, Ben Franklin Bridge! My father walked across this opening day in 1926. Then I saw this. I said, I definitely got to do it. I'll tell my grandkids. Let's give a round of applause for Ralph Majewski, the Polish engineer who made this bridge possible. He came here in the 20s and started planning this beautiful bridge, which was built over a period of about four years. We are placing a wreath to remember him by. The Polish Heritage Society of Philadelphia. Our mission is to remember Polish individuals and Americans of Polish descent who have contributed materially and historically to the state of Pennsylvania. Few things built by human hands remain as important, useful, and recognizable a century later as the Ben Franklin Bridge does. You know, you had two industrial powerhouses, both in Philadelphia, which is considered the workshop of the world. Camden's slogan was, on Camden's supplies, the world relies. And this was an essential bridge for commerce as well as for transportation. At the time it opened, it was the world's longest suspension bridge. It was designed for six lanes of traffic, two outer track areas for trolleys. We widened the bridge, went from six to eight lanes, and in the 70s we re-striped the bridge. It went from eight narrow lanes to seven wide lanes. You know, the engineers said that the bridge should last for centuries if ordinary care and maintenance is taken to protect and maintain the bridge. And what we do here with the Delaware River Port Authority, we're doing what we can to ensure that we maintain the bridge and improve it so that we can hand this bridge off to another generation of people working on it, traveling on it, for generations to come.