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 ...
Hey, I’m not exactly good with heights myself (plus I have severe inner-ear balance problems), but I did it ! ;-)
(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.
Not a bridge across anything: http://www.grandcanyonskywalk.com/
And once a year they have a big party out there...
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.
The robe seems like a good idea...
Yeah, no doubt, top that! We *have a winnner*. :’D
"I was unable to cross this bridge as a small male child in 1962."Okay.
“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.
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
But as soon as they became a morbidly obese old lady, it was OK. ;-D
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.
You owe me a new keyboard.
Only way I’d go across that sucker is fast and with my eyes closed.
:)
Lake Pontchartrain Causeway...enough said
Woo-hoo! Bridge Day...2010 version coming up in just a few weeks!
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