After the Honeymoon Bridge collapsed in 1938 due to the ice buildup on the Niagara River, a new bridge was needed to connect the cities of Niagara Falls, New York, United States, and Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. During their 1939 royal tour of Canada, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth dedicated the site of the Rainbow Bridge. Construction of the single arch bridge started on May 4, 1940. To prevent the new bridge from suffering the same consequences as the Honeymoon Bridge, the bridges abutments are 50 feet (15m) above the water. The official opening of the Rainbow Bridge took place on November 1st 1941. It is named for the fact that you can often see a rainbow over Niagara Falls, which is just upstream from the bridge.One fifth of the land border entries into Canada occur over the Rainbow Bridge. The bridge also boasts special pedestrian lanes for crossing and border entries that are manly used by tourists. Six billion (6,000,000,000) pounds of Niagara River water cross under the Rainbow Bridge in one minute.