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World's Scariest Bridges
Yahoo! ^ | September 2010 | Lyndsey Matthews

Posted on 09/29/2010 4:29:35 PM PDT by Pyro7480

Royal Gorge Bridge
Colorado

America's highest suspension bridge may be breathtaking for some, but those scared of heights may be left gasping for air as they stare straight down nearly 90 stories at the Arkansas River below. Completed in 1929, the bridge didn't have stabilizing wind cables until 1982.

Where: Royal Gorge, Colorado, over the Arkansas River.

Stats: 969 feet above the gorge; 1,260 feet long....

Mackinac Bridge
Michigan

Some drivers get so nervous about crossing this five-mile-long bridge that they don't even go. And this happens so often that the Mackinac Bridge Authority will drive your car or motorcycle for you (and for free). The biggest fear is the wind, which often exceeds 30 miles per hour on the bridge.

Where: Between Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas.

Stats: 5 miles long; 199 feet above the water....

Chesapeake Bay Bridge
Maryland

Drivers are notoriously afraid of this bridge, as it's subjected to frequent—and often violent—storms. And when the bad weather hits, forget about visibility: get to the middle of this five-mile-long bridge and you can barely see land.

Where: Spanning the Chesapeake Bay to connect Maryland's eastern and western shores.

Stats: Nearly 5 miles long; 186 feet high at its highest point.

(Excerpt) Read more at travel.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Society; Travel
KEYWORDS: bridge; bridges
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To: Ready4Freddy

Hey, I’m not exactly good with heights myself (plus I have severe inner-ear balance problems), but I did it ! ;-)


41 posted on 09/29/2010 6:25:17 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (~"This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Amber Lamps !"~~)
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To: fieldmarshaldj

(Errpp) I’m getting sick.....

Anyway, a recent Hitler Channel documentary aired footage of a scale model Galloping Gertie being subjected to similar aerodynamic stress as the authorities were meticulously determined to learn what had caused G.G. to oscillate so wildly.

The current Tacoma Narrows bridge is built like an M-1 tank, as the first one should have been.


42 posted on 09/29/2010 6:35:14 PM PDT by elcid1970 ("O Muslim! My bullets are dipped in pig grease!")
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To: Pyro7480

Not a bridge across anything: http://www.grandcanyonskywalk.com/


43 posted on 09/29/2010 6:37:26 PM PDT by Western Phil
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To: Pyro7480
World's tallest, the Millau Viaduct in France


44 posted on 09/29/2010 6:40:02 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco (There's only one cure for Obamarrhea......)
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To: Some Fat Guy in L.A.
The New River Bridge is definitely impressive, that's for sure.

And once a year they have a big party out there...


45 posted on 09/29/2010 6:41:13 PM PDT by EternalVigilance (Show 'em the rope, point at the branch, get ready to kick the horse..)
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To: Pyro7480; grellis; AdmSmith; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; bigheadfred; blueyon; ...

The Mighty Mac is a wonderful bridge. The wind can make for a short trip, but hey, whiners, dying is part of living.

Twenty years ago someone in a Yugo (I mean, really, a Yugo? Who cares?) got picked right up by the wind while crossing the Mac and chucked to her death in the Lake. It’s quite a drop.

There’s an annual fundraising walk back and forth (ten miles), that’s on foot of course, and I don’t recall anyone ever getting tossed into the drink by a gust.

If you ever take the boat out to Mackinac (”Mac in awe”) Island, the five mile span of the bridge appears to curve upward in the middle. S’cool.


46 posted on 09/29/2010 6:47:25 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Democratic Underground... matters are worse, as their latest fund drive has come up short...)
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To: EternalVigilance
Another very high bridge is the I-90 Veteran's Memorial Bridge just east of Coeur d'Alene, ID. It crosses one of the bays of Lake Coeur d'Alene, and while you can't see much from the bridge itself that whole stretch of highway is WAY up above the lake. Great views. Very beautiful drive.


47 posted on 09/29/2010 6:47:27 PM PDT by EternalVigilance (Show 'em the rope, point at the branch, get ready to kick the horse..)
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To: Charles Henrickson

The robe seems like a good idea...


48 posted on 09/29/2010 6:48:43 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Democratic Underground... matters are worse, as their latest fund drive has come up short...)
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To: fieldmarshaldj

Yeah, no doubt, top that! We *have a winnner*. :’D


49 posted on 09/29/2010 6:49:24 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Democratic Underground... matters are worse, as their latest fund drive has come up short...)
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To: Ready4Freddy
"I was unable to cross this bridge as a small male child in 1962."
Okay.
50 posted on 09/29/2010 6:50:13 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Democratic Underground... matters are worse, as their latest fund drive has come up short...)
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To: Fast Moving Angel

“Too bad they didn?t include the Seven Mile Bridge in the Florida Keys in the middle of a tropical storm :-)”

Or the Sunshine Skyway bridge in St. Petersburg. Especially when a barge hits it and cars fall into Tampa Bay.


51 posted on 09/29/2010 6:53:19 PM PDT by goseminoles
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Mackinac Bridge Cam:
http://www.mackinacbridge.org/bridge-cam-20/

Aerial shot in the winter, dare ya to cross it then!
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5-9pSyTiM_U/SGX2hSw71FI/AAAAAAAACT8/3vdlmM6nBoY/s400/rtixxw.jpg

Under construction:
http://www.michigan.gov/images/history_18973_7.jpg


52 posted on 09/29/2010 6:54:46 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Democratic Underground... matters are worse, as their latest fund drive has come up short...)
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To: SunkenCiv
A bit of a lumber shortage when they built this one...


53 posted on 09/29/2010 6:55:14 PM PDT by EternalVigilance (Show 'em the rope, point at the branch, get ready to kick the horse..)
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To: SunkenCiv

But as soon as they became a morbidly obese old lady, it was OK. ;-D


54 posted on 09/29/2010 6:58:10 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (~"This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Amber Lamps !"~~)
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To: Pyro7480

55 posted on 09/29/2010 6:59:55 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Let us prey!)
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To: EternalVigilance

Looks like the destination kinda sucks anyway, they wouldn’t want to waste a lot of money on something that wasn’t going to be used that much. Or at all by me.


56 posted on 09/29/2010 7:02:13 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Democratic Underground... matters are worse, as their latest fund drive has come up short...)
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To: SunkenCiv

You owe me a new keyboard.


57 posted on 09/29/2010 7:06:06 PM PDT by FourPeas (Pester not the geek, for the electrons are his friends.)
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To: MarineBrat

Only way I’d go across that sucker is fast and with my eyes closed.

:)


58 posted on 09/29/2010 7:20:08 PM PDT by 2111USMC
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To: Pyro7480

Lake Pontchartrain Causeway...enough said


59 posted on 09/29/2010 7:20:35 PM PDT by JRios1968 (What is the difference between 0bama and his dog, Bo? Bo has papers.)
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To: EternalVigilance

Woo-hoo! Bridge Day...2010 version coming up in just a few weeks!


60 posted on 09/29/2010 7:24:34 PM PDT by who knows what evil? (G-d saved more animals than people on the ark...www.siameserescue.org.)
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