By Robert Emslie
One of the primary joys of driving is experiencing the interaction of road and ride, whether it be following the curve of a mountain ridge, or man-made freeway ramp. The other joy is the vistas along the way. Bridges generally span interruptions between those engaging roads, and quite frequently they can be visual celebrations unto themselves.
There’s something special about crossing a bridge, whether it be a picturesque covered bridge in New England, or the venerated Golden Gate out west, each is an experience that is unique and to be savored. One of my favorite bridges is the Colorado Street Bridge, more colloquially known as Suicide Bridge, in Pasadena California. Opened in 1913, the gently curving concrete ribbon spans the Arroyo Seco canyon and offers expansive views of the Rose Bowl and San Gabriel mountains to its north. Despite a decorative barricade installed to prevent people from jumping off of it, the bridge still earns its scandalous nickname, the most recent occurrence taking place in October of last year.
Bridges bring us together, both physically, connecting otherwise separated geographies, and socially, as we all marvel at their engineering and appearance. Driving across them connects us not just with a destination, but the designers and builders that made it possible. With all that in mind, do you have a favorite bridge?
Image: Burberry Italy via Twitter
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When I was a kid living in St. Louis, I was always fascinated by Mom and Dad driving on the Chain of Rocks Bridge crossing the Mississippi into Illinois. The bridge, which still stands despite not having vehicular traffic anymore, has a kink in the middle and a nicely complex steel superstructure.
Whoa, you got to ride across the Chain of Rocks Bridge, in a car? I am impressed. I walked it, back in 1999.
I walked that in 2011. Interesting piece of history.
Seven Mile Bridge in the Keys – just for the pure insanity of driving that far over water.
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/byways/Uploads/asset_files/000/017/476/looooooong_bridge.jpg
Living in South Florida, I’ve driven the Seven Mile Bridge a fair number of times. The old bridge was a bit daunting – two narrow lanes with almost no shoulder.
When we were there, I was much more fascinated with the old bridge. I couldn’t believe how narrow it was. I’d make Mrs. GTXcellent stop at every opportunity there was so I could walk out on it.
I love the drive thru The Keys…..it is heaven!
One of my favorites has to be the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. Partly for the engineering marvel it is, and also because any bridge that you can’t see land from is both cool and eerie.
https://hveng.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/11206867_860217204027854_4130759595116644880_o.jpg?w=620
We used to take that when we’d go from northern New Jersey to Williamsburg, VA. Problem is, we have to take the Cape May – Lewes ferry also. It adds a lot of time and cost to the trip.
Came here to post this.
I remember my uncle freaked me out so bad about this bridge/tunnel when I was little, I was crazy scared of it for years as a kid.
I haven’t made that crossing in decades. When did they add the extra span?
nevermind I googled. 1995-99. but still 2 lane tunnels? must be a bit of a cluster.
I crossed that this year in the middle of a nasty Nor’Easter. It was not fun at all the waves were crashing against the bottom of the ‘bridge’ while the high winds were blowing spray over the road. I have never seen the water so high, with what was probably eight to ten foot waves. I was white knuckle driving the whole time. Probably one of the only times I was happy to see Maryland.
The one between Denmark and Sweden (Öresund bridge) is crazy: tunnel-artificial island-bridge, my first crossing was when the top of the loops disappeared in the fog/cloud – a true skyhook! It mainly allows me to avoid ferries when driving Norway-Germany. All reasons to promote it to my top three list.
http://bilder.t-online.de/b/68/26/60/06/id_68266006/920/tid_da/und-weg-ist-sie-ploetzlich-endet-die-oeresundbruecke-im-meer-zwischen-daenemark-und-schweden-.jpg
I always thought the US-212 bridge over the Missouri at Forest City, SD was neat.
http://www.johnweeks.com/river_missouri/pages/sd_mo_10.html
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/FOREST_CITY_BRIDGE%2C_DEWEY_COUNTY%2C_SD.jpg/800px-FOREST_CITY_BRIDGE%2C_DEWEY_COUNTY%2C_SD.jpg
I’ve always been partial to the Brooklyn bridge. So much so that I’m actually in negotiations to buy it.
http://world-visits.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Brooklyn-Bridge.jpg
Let’s not leave out it’s lesser know cousin, the Roebling Delaware Bridge. The oldest existing wire suspension bridge in the US. I’ve actually crossed it many times.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roebling's_Delaware_Aqueduct
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/RoeblingDelawareAqueduct2_crop.jpg
Don’t forget the Waco Suspension Bridge, opened in 1869:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waco_Suspension_Bridge
http://cache2.asset-cache.net/xd/477246535.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=DE35C22108443EE9ACCD5DD8D76FCA92D1DB44E5599D888ADB56895847B585467CFEA06142D336D7
I always loved crossing the ASB Bridge here in KC. Unfortunately, the road deck has been removed and now it only carries trains, utility cables and pipelines.
http://tanshanomi.com/temp/ASB-bridge-1981.jpg
The one with the hemicudavert.
http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/sf-wikia/images/f/f7/Logo1.jpeg/revision/latest?cb=20120809221848
The plank-deck Beaver Bridge in NW Arkansas is fun to cross. (And yes, it’s still open to vehicles.)
http://www.johnweeks.com/miscbridges/pics/beaverbr03.jpg
Unfortunately, this is what it looks like, as of about 2-1/2 weeks ago.
https://steelhorsejourneys.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/beaver-bridge.jpg?w=500
Dang, that’s a bummer.
Just for the record, ferries > bridges.
http://blog.trekaroo.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Jamestown-Scottand-Ferry-James-River.jpg
I always take the ferry when I go in to the NY Auto Show. As long as you’re a small group it is way cheaper than the tolls to cross by car and park.
Brian Ferry agrees.
Leon Bridges does not
http://www.montreuxjazzfestival.com/sites/default/files/styles/program_1298x769/public/artists/leon_bridges_promo_shot_2015.jpg?itok=EvKt3wvn
Floating bridges combine the best features of both.
https://giftofra.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/2004177412.jpg
I quite like Högakustenbron on the north coast of Sweden. It’s simple and stylish and it holds the very prestigious record of the worlds most northern suspension bridge according to something I’ve may heard at some point in time.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c9/High_Coast_Bridge_%28H%C3%B6ga_Kusten_Bron%29.jpg/1280px-High_Coast_Bridge_%28H%C3%B6ga_Kusten_Bron%29.jpg
Park Bridge, over Kicking Horse Canyon, outside Field, British Columbia. Heading west out of Alberta there are spectacular mountain peaks to boggle at. Coming east into Alberta, it’s a fun high-speed uphill blast through a couple of triple-digit sweepers.
http://www.kickinghorsecanyon.ca/images/homepagephotos/Park_Bridge_looking_west_DSC9499.jpg
The Mackinac Bridge , between the two Michigan peninsulas.
That is a Google trekker in the picture.
Another View
Driven across it a few times, pulling a pop up trailer 4 of them. Spectacular bridge and the UP is beautiful.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2826/9219173178_a27fe9e1e9_b.jpg
The Prince Edward Viaduct across Toronto’s Don Valley is pretty cool, although more so when you’re riding the subway, as it’s one of the few exposed portions, and a pretty great view.
Sometimes I’m only half-joking when I tell friends I’m retiring to a refrigerator carton under the Bloor Viaduct.
/broken CPP
Fridge box under the Bloor Viaduct, or a house under Windsor’s Ambassador Bridge? It’s a fair, and difficult question.
I’m gonna have to go with the Quechee Gorge bridge over the Ottauquechee River on Vermont Route 4 in Hartford, Vermont
Not because it was particularly special, but because it was designed to replace an older wood truss bridge in the same location without disrupting train service. So they just built it over the top of the old bridge, and disassembled the old bridge when the new one was completed. Train service was only disrupted for less than a day.
Just a bit north of where I grew up. There was, may still be, a hot air balloon festival in Quechee. Quite a sight.
Closer to home, I always liked this bridge where I-65 crosses Indiana 46 near Columbus. It looks good, and it’s definitely different.
But in the world, the bridges in Paris (all of them along the Seine) get my vote.
This bridge at around mile marker 179 in Ohio.
One it’s pretty cool looking, and two it means i’m less than an hour to Pennsylvania and out of the worst state ever (and unfortunately then into the 3rd worst state.)
Worst state? 🙁
Yep.
Seven Bridges Road….
Tune-o-matic. There was a time when I was a Floyd Rose fan, and my Dean has a Kahler, but the rare desire for a tremolo doesn’t outweigh its disadvantages. (I have my Dean’s Kahler locked down)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Les_paul_tune-o-matic_stopbar.jpg
This looks like it should be affixed to the dashboard of a 1950s Buick. So you can play it as you’re driving along, like some sort of giant harp…
Any one that doesn’t have tolls to cross?
My favorite dates back to my childhood and will remain there forever. The Dewey Bridge north of Moab, Utah, crossed the Colorado River. Built in 1916 of wood and steel, it was narrow enough that folding in the mirrors on the Ford Bronco was not necessary, but certainly more comfortable.
You may have noticed that I mentioned that it will remain in my childhood memories, because this happened when a kid playing with matches destroyed the wooden structure a few years back.
It looks a bit like the swinging bridge over the Big Horn river, built in 1916 in Thermopolis, WY.
http://www.bridgemeister.com/imgpow/powythermopolis1.jpg
Damn kids! At least the Goat Canyon Trestle is still standing: http://photos.wikimapia.org/p/00/01/66/33/40_big.jpg
http://wikimapia.org/1893072/Goat-Canyon-Trestle
The Fort Pitt and Fort Duquesne bridges in Pittsburgh are fun, even though they are pretty much bog standard through-truss arches.
Both the upper and lower decks make for…interesting…lane changes.
came here to post Fort Pitt. as someone who has lived the rest of his life in places with straight roads, the two years i spent in Pittsburgh taught me that there are things more important than getting places efficiently.
my favorite city. when i decide i need to spend middle age away from small-town suburbia, i’m moving back to Pittsburgh.
Le Viaduc de Millau
http://www.survoldefrance.fr/photos/highdef/6/6894.jpg
Pylon 2 is the tallest bridge pylon in the world, and the tallest structure of any kind in France.
Or for one that’s more in the what-the-hell category, the Hogarth Flyover in Chiswick, West London:
http://www.cbrd.co.uk/photo/img/hogarth-flyover/06.jpg
Not a favorite but an absolute least favorite, most hated, despicable, dangerous piece of roadway-over-water I’ve ever experienced: the infamous Tappan Zee Bridge. At times there were holes in it that you could see the Hudson below through, there were construction plates that were a good 3″ elevated above the rest of the roadway (with nothing to lessen the blow between low and high sections), it gets narrow in spots, people drive like ass*****, and it takes forever to get over. Luckily it’s being replaced.
http://static01.nyt.com/images/2012/06/27/nyregion/TAPPAN1/TAPPAN1-articleLarge.jpg
The best thing about The Tapp is that you can take girls to the overlook on the Rockland County side at dusk.
I’ve never checked that out so I can’t agree, so I’ll stick with “the best thing about the Tapp is that they’re replacing it”
I’m partial to Tom Uglys Bridge as it means that I’ve made it out of the Shire:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Tom_ugly_bridge.jpg
I like it too, especially if I’m on my Tuesday machine – going out of Sydney, crossing it means I’m only a few minutes away from ‘the Nasho’.
Columbus has a pretty neat “tilted arch bridge” with the roadway on one side of the angled arch and the pedestrian walkway on the other. Here’s my T’bird on it jsut after it opened in 2010:
Here’s a better shot of the pedestrian side:
http://www.dispatch.com/content/graphics/2014/01/05/did-you-know-05-art-g6vqeodt-107-crew-lampson-clh-jpg.jpg
Griffin Most in St Petersburg, Russia, not only beautiful, but in a most picturesque location!
demolished 10 years ago but the John P Grace bridge in Charleston SC was a favorite of mine. Narrow, steep, rickety looking…It was like a carnival ride. It was one way traffic by my time, but it was still kinda scary in a ’67 Impala
http://c1038.r38.cf3.rackcdn.com/group2/building11805/media/03sc8z5.jpg
It also was the stunt double for the Tappan Zee bridge in Die Hard with a Vengeance
I haven’t yet driven a car over it, but taking the antique streetcar across Edmonton’s High Level Bridge is blast in and of itself.
http://www.edmonton-radial-railway.ab.ca/_images/201108038.JPG
The New River Gorge Bridge on US-19 near Fayetteville, West Virginia is my favorite.
When it was built in 1977, it was the longest single arch steel span bridge in the world and held that title until 2002. It is now the third longest. At 876 feet high over the New River below, it is also the third highest bridge in the U.S.
Prior to its construction in 1977, it took 50-60 minutes to meander down one side of the gorge on narrow twisty roads, cross the river on a traditional bridge and make the trip back up the other side of the gorge. Now it only takes about 45 seconds.