Posted on 11/09/2009 7:36:46 AM PST by SmithL
Edited on 11/09/2009 8:21:14 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
A truck driver died early today after losing control on the Bay Bridge S-curve at high speed and plummeting 200 feet below to Yerba Buena Island, the most serious collision yet since the new detour was installed, the California Highway Patrol said.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Not for a million bucks!
Fear of bridges over water is a common phobia (it has a name) and can cause serious anxiety.
On some of the longer, higher spans - there are bridge/road personnel assigned to transport anxious drivers to the other side.
Caltrans never was good (at least since the ‘60s) but now they are abysmal.
I used to work with the district bridge engineer frequently in the ‘80s. They had an open contract with us to do the tasks that their staff couldn’t figure out how to do. I shudder to think what it must be like now!
Must have been tough back then, having to know the difference between the steering wheel and the spark advance lever! (/sarc)
I used to do some cliff and bridge diving from 45 to 60 ft above the water surface. There is plenty of time to contemplate how stupid you are.
Aerial Pics of Mackinac Bridge
Took 6 months to build in 1929 as a tourist attraction.
If you do a general search on it at Google, you can pull up lots of links. Mine is just a general fear of heights, but I can understand this fear too:
Good catch!
From the above link, it says they had no fatalities building it either:
Although many inexperienced laborers worked on the Royal Gorge Bridge, despite the risk involved in the project, it was completed in seven months without fatality or incident.
There is a stretch of road going down from our ranch toward Columbia where the road runs along the gorge of the south fork of the Stanislaus River, where the river is 2400-2600 feet below the road. - One day I was bring some laborers down, and they had never been that way before. One of them got sick and tossed his lunch in his lap!
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Tee hee! I did a google search - but the pictures were frightening me (much like the ones you are posting) LOL!
Think I’ll just forget this thread and go for a quiet stroll on the flat, dry, fenced back yard.
sod;)
Hahahahahahaha...perfect!
Oh my goodness. I don’t know why, but I never associate CA with mountains. You’ve got the highest point in the lower 48 though. I never knew that until the other day.
“in Cal. they view through their bellybuttons...its the most popular method there that I have noticed...”
True...we have to stand to read the monitors on our computers...a lot of posting in one day can be tiring...
Sorry—I’ve got a fear and a fascination at the same time.
LOL
I have been over it and under it many times.
Good answer! Good answer! As heard on TV. :<)
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