Waiting for the Edmund Fitzgerald to sail by.
Posted on 08/23/2006 7:45:38 AM PDT by mark502inf
Renee Crays hunched forward in the rear seat of her pickup. One hand clutched the headrest of the seat before her so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
The Mackinac Bridge's vertical suspension cables flowed past her window as the truck climbed the gentle slope toward the center span on a recent sunny, beautiful day.
Gulls soared about the bridge towers. A freighter lumbered in the distance. But Crays showed no interest in the panoramic view. She didn't glance out the side windows at all, only straight ahead, tense.
"I'm scared to death of this bridge," she said. "It makes me sick to my stomach. It makes me dizzy."
In the driver's seat, John Lane nodded at the rearview mirror and offered a reassuring smile. In three years working with the Mackinac Bridge Authority, he's chauffeured hundreds of people over the bridge who, like Crays, were too nervous to drive themselves.
A nurse from Sault Ste. Marie with family in Cheboygan, Crays is a regular user of the Bridge Authority Driver Assistance Program. Every time she makes the trip to visit relatives she asks for help. Lane has driven her several times.
"This service is wonderful," she said. "I never have to wait more than 15 minutes. And they always do what I ask: They stay in the middle, away from the edge."
Bridge Authority workers deal with gephyrophobia - gephyra is Greek for bridge - every day. More than 500 nervous drivers have handed over their keys so far this year. Last year, 1,085 were chauffeured over.
Some people call or e-mail in advance to arrange for a driver. Others, generally first-timers, approach the bridge and note the drop - 199 feet - from the road to the whitecaps below. They study the tensile thinness of the suspension cables and decide they can't drive it.
Fearful drivers ask for help at the toll plaza on the St. Ignace side or at a designated Bridge Authority phone hut on the Mackinaw City side. A few minutes later a worker comes to the rescue, assuming the driver is willing to sign a waiver stating they're insured and their vehicle isn't stolen.
Bridge Authority employee Mike Buby has driven many people and understands their fear. "You've never been to Michigan, never seen the bridge, and there's a west wind blowing 30 miles an hour," he said. "We've had people that go under a blanket."
Waiting for the Edmund Fitzgerald to sail by.
The lack of paving is for wind flow.
It's also one of the most beautiful bridges in the world.
My sister suffers from this, and I feel it to some degree too, especially when on my motorcycle.....
Never drive a Yugo over the Mackinac Bridge..
Never drive a Yugo over the Mackinac Bridge..
It's high, but isn't the bridge in Dover Delaware higher above the water?
My wife has a thing about big bridges although she maintained pretty well when we drove across this one. Personally, I'd have a problem walking over it when you can see through to the water; I'd need something to hang onto (or else be pretty drunk.)
I love going over that bridge. The skyway into Chicago is pretty cool too...I drove that once at 11pm...the steel mills were fired up and I was blasting "One" by Metallica on the cd player
I sincerely thought I was driving into hell.
"Waiting for the Edmund Fitzgerald to sail by."
I don't the the Edmund Fitzgerald ever sailed under the bridge. It always traveled between Cleveland and Duluth.
Makes sense. Every time I'm there, even if calm on the approaches, the wind is whipping pretty hard on the brige itself. And there's got to be some venturi effect based on the narrowness of the straits at that point.
While I am not surprised the AP is running a story about a poor pityful person and their personal problems about crossing a silly bridge - I was surprised they did not work in how this persons problem was Bush's fault.
I don't believe the Edmund Fitzgerald ever sailed anywhere!
You know the history of the waitress gone missing when her Yugo went over the side?
LENGTHS
Total Length of Bridge (5 Miles) 26,372 Ft.
Total Length of Steel Superstructure 19,243 Ft.
Length of Suspension Bridge (including Anchorages) 8,614 Ft.
Total Length of North Approach 7,129 Ft.
Length of Main Span (between Main Towers) 3,800 Ft.
HEIGHTS AND DEPTHS
Height of Main Towers above Water 552 Ft.
Maximum Depth to Rock at Midspan Unknown
Maximum Depth of Water at Midspan 295 Ft.
Maximum Depth of Tower Piers below Water 210 Ft.
Height of Roadway above Water at Midspan 199 Ft.
Underclearance at Midspan for Ships 155 Ft.
Maximum Depth of Water at Piers 142 Ft.
Maximum Depth of Piers Sunk through Overburden 105 Ft.
Total Length of Wire in Main Cables 42,000 Miles
Maximum Tension in Each Cable 16,000 Tons
Number of Wires in Each Cable 12,580
Weight of Cables 11,840 Tons
Diameter of Main Cables 24 1/2 Inches
Diameter of Each Wire 0.196 Inches
Total Concrete in Bridge 466,300 Cu. Yds. 356,512 Cu. Meters
Total Concrete in Substructure 451,000 Cu. Yds. 344,814 Cu. Meters
Total Concrete in One Anchorage (No. 22) 91,600 Cu. Yds. 70,033 Cu. Meters
Total Concrete in One Pier (No. 19) 80,600 Cu. Yds. 61,623 Cu. Meters
Total Concrete in Superstructure 15,300 Cu. Yds. 11,698 Cu. Meters
WEIGHTS
Total Weight of Bridge 1,024,500 Tons
Total Weight of Concrete 931,000 Tons
Total Weight of Substructure 919,100 Tons
Total Weight of Two Anchorages 360,380 Tons
Total Weight of Two Main Piers 318,000 Tons
Total Weight of Superstructure 104,400 Tons
Total Weight of Structural Steel 71,300 Tons
Weight of Steel in Each Main Tower 6,500 Tons
Total Weight of Cable Wire 11,840 Tons
Total Weight of Concrete Roadway 6,660 Tons
Total Weight of Reinforcing Steel 3,700 Tons
RIVETS AND BOLTS
Total Number of Steel Rivets 4,851,700
Total Number of Steel Bolts 1,016,600
DESIGN AND DETAIL DRAWINGS
Total Number of Engineering Drawings 4,000
Total Number of Blueprints 85,000
MEN EMPLOYED
Total, at the Bridge Site 3,500
At Quarries, Shops, Mills, etc. 7,500
Total Number of Engineers 350
IMPORTANT DATES
Mackinac Bridge Authority Appointed June, 1950
Board of Three Engineers Retained June, 1950
Report of Board of Engineers January, 1951
Financing and Construction Authorized by Legislature April 30, 1952
D.B. Steinman Selected as Engineer January, 1953
Preliminary Plans and Estimates Completed March, 1953
Construction Contracts Negotiated March, 1953
Bids Received for Sale of Bonds December 17, 1953
Began Construction May 7, 1954
Open to traffic November 1, 1957
Formal dedication June 25-28, 1958
50 millionth crossing September 25, 1984
40th Anniversary Celebration November 1, 1997
100 millionth crossing June 25, 1998
Oops, 1997. Not 1977.
Hi yooper, you're a long way from home. Didn't know that about the Fitzgerald. But I have heard that
"they'd have made Whitefish Bay; If they'd fifteen more miles behind her."
The Big Mack is a beautiful bridge. I think a lot of people get vertigo because the landscape is so open . . . so BIG. And then there's the aforementioned grille in the road! ;-) It's been years since we drove across it, but it's definitely a gorgeous sight.
Another favorite is that bridge in Tampa Bay. The coast one one side and the gulf on the other make for a wonderful drive.
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