By David Brand

The Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, a pop culture icon and the longest, busiest span over the East River, celebrates its 110th anniversary today, June 18.

The dignified bridge has been the setting or backdrop in countless films, including Manhattan and The Dark Knight Rises. It’s perhaps the most grueling stretch of the New York City Marathon. And it’s the subject of Simon & Garfunkel’s classic “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy).” (Is the song stuck in your head now, too?)

After more than a century, more than 170,000 vehicles continue to cross the vital artery to and from Long Island City every day, according to a 2016 report by the Department of Transportation.

First envisioned in the early 19th Century, the 7,449-foot bridge officially opened on June 18, 1909 and has undergone several changes over the past century (including a renaming in honor of former Mayor Ed Koch in 2011).