I was on a Trailways bus crossing the Sunshine Skyway Bridge one week before this happened.
Reading about that was kinda scary.
The closest I ever came to your experience was a ‘66 Dart with skinny 13” tires on the Williamsburg Bridge in icey conditions... nasty.
Way way back in the day I used to commute over that bridge. Until I bought a real car I was using my uncle’s old Subaru Justy. You don’t know exciting until you try to pass someone uphill while on the bridge, only to find out your 2-cylinder junk heap doesn’t have the power to accelerate uphill fast enough to not piss off the semi behind you that you cut off in the attempt.
I thought it was already partially demolished ... at least it looked and felt like it last time I was across.
"...destruction of old Tappan Zee Bridge to commence..."
Fond memories here, too. In the 50s and early 60s, every Thanksgiving and Easter, we would drive down from upstate NY to visit Oma and Opa in Thornwood. I always knew we were getting very close when we crossed the then-new Tappan Zee Bridge. About halfway across, Dad, without fail, would say “Look over there, kids...you can see the Empire State Building” and we would crane our necks to get a glimpse of the famous monument far off in Manhattan. The building was still almost-new having been completed in 1931. The U.S. had the serious, no-nonsense, can-do spirit in those days.
Even as a kid, I thought the common Dutch and Indian names throughout NYS were very intriguing and just oozed adventure and romance. I especially liked “Tappan Zee,” the nice mix of Indian and Dutch. It just rolled off the tongue. I can’t believe that bastard Cuomo is dumping that grand old name.
It seems that everything that was built when I was a little kid is getting torn down and replaced. My old schools, bridges, power plants I started up in the early 70s. Yikes...I must be next.
The new bridge is pretty spectacular, despite its name.
Unfortunately however it not only still has tolls, but has them now in both directions.