I've been fascinated with this bridge since seeing a documetary about its construction several years ago. And it looks as though I may finally get my chance to go across it after living in Michigan for 21 years. My son has to be at school in St. Paul in a few weeks which happens to coincide with our being in Gaylord. No sense in going down and around, better to go up and across the UP.
Being an engineer on this beautiful bridge must have been an amazing experience.
Yes it was a wonderful experience, and we had a wonderful crew of several hundred men from all over the country. It was in 1955-57, before we had computers and laser surveying instruments and it was quite a problem locating the piers for the two main towers in open water with the instruments of that day. Did you know that because of the curvature of the earth the tops of the vertical main towers are one inch farther apart than than the 3800 ft distance at the base? We did the surveying at night so that sunlight would not raise the temperature of the steel measuring tapes and the steel structure. Our kids were little then and when we finished the job we drove across the upper peninsula and you will have an interesting trip on the upper peninsula. that is one of my favorite parts of the country.