I've driven all over 45 of the lower 48 states , missing far northern Pacific NW and Far north New England area, mostly just Maine ..been over many sketchy bridges , this one would challenge me

I don't like the steel decked bridges. We have a much shorter one than in the video. Your car feels like it's getting pulled both ways. I rode a motorcycle over it once, and thought I was going over.

Been over that bridge a few times, not scary to me! My wife has a friend who will not go over a long bridge if at all possible and will take a detour miles out of the way to avoid them! I have ridden motorcycles over many steel grate bridges, not fun but if you go faster it helps...LOL I followed the GPS last year off I-24 to Eldorado, Illinois and found out you can still take a ferry across the Ohio River! Of course I had my 24' enclosed trailer and was trying to find a way to turn around when a log semi pulled up to the ferry! They motioned him to get on, so I figured what the heck and followed. They had me jacknife a bit next to him and barely made it on the to close the rear gate! It was an interesting ride across the river, but no issues. Saved about an hour drive time...

Traffic is always backed up on the eastbound lanes of I-10 going over the Mississippi River. You get stuck on it and you can feel it moving. Not really scary but my life is pretty dull these days.

At night in the rain with these damn bright headlights would bother me more than anything.

It was replaced a few years ago, but the old Goethals bridge between the NJ Turnpike and Staten Island would keep your full attention.

This is in Houston , if you don't like heights .. stay away

I grew up in the Great Lakes region, it seems like those simple span bridges were very common, steel grating deck bridges much less common. I loved crossing them, hearing the rhythmic sound of the tires on the bridge. I don't recall any pokey speed limits, we always crossed at highway speeds. I don't remember Dad complaining about driving on them with the old recirculating ball steering box and bias ply tires? As an adult, I know driving on wet steel to be like driving on ice, that's scary.

bigdad, you're about 90 miles off, that bridge is closer to Beaumont than Houston.

Rainbow Bridge History

This one, the New River Gorge Bridge, well at least the first time I came on it from the north or heading south. I didn't know it was there and was heading south and you come around a blind bend and then THERE IT IS!! I was in a truck and had it going a little over the limit and before I knew it I was on the bridge. It was unusual to me as it had low sides and a low railing and you felt like if you lost control there was no way the railing or sides would keep you from going over it. I guess it was the surprise of being on it the very first time. And damn if they don't bungey and parachute off of it every year

You like correcting people , don't you .. I notice all the time ..

I don't think anyone thought it was in downtown Houston , near it .. but, again .. just keep correcting me if it makes you feel better

Don't take offense. Meant more of if anyone wanted to check it out in person that's all.

The old Carquinez bridge in Norcal was like that, scary on a bike and the lowest side guard rail had a gap below it that looked to be just high enough for a bike to slide under.

THE I 95 bridge in jacksonville

Any bridge with a toll...which in the future will probably be all of them

Grew up in Tampa and as a kid never cared for the old Sunshine Skyway bridge as all you were driving over at the top was some grating.
Always thought it was a terrible way to die when the ship took out the center section.
https://www.tampabay.com/news/2020/...dge-plunged-into-tampa-bay-40-years-ago/

This was the bridge where I grew up
Keokuk Ia to Hamilton IL on Hwy U.S. 136.
Iron grate narrow swing bridge.
This baby took many a mirror in its time.
Now closed down and replaced by a new bridge.

Check out what's rolling through the toll booth.
.

In the fall of 1977 I crossed the Mississippi on the old US 60 bridge in a Ford Louisville cattle truck. That bridge seemed like it was 8 ft wide and 300 high. Same trip we also crossed Mobile Bay on the original Mobile Bay I-10 causeway. Narrow ass bridge, wide truck, and water that looked deadly cold and muddy.

FM3AAR, first bridge I thought of was the Sunshine Skyway also. The new one after the collapsed one is huge. Driven over it a few times. One time with my mom as a passenger, and she ducked down until we were over

Is that the real steep one? I know I went over one in Jax that was real tall or steep or both.

That bridge is local to me, it's one of those bridges that you fold up your drivers mirror if you're in a pickup before you start across it. Motorcycle guys say it has a high pucker factor for them. One other thing is that if freezes very quick when it's cold enough.

Took my Mom to Port Arthur today which put me REAL close to the Rainbow Bridge, so we went to check it out! Yup, she's definitely up there, but the pucker factor wasn't bad being in a Corolla. Driving across in a Semi might be a different story. The climb comes on rather sudden, its not long and drawn out. I took video of crossing both bridges, but I didn't post it because it really doesn't put the height into prospective. .

Changed my mind........

(no I wasn't drunk, almost dropped my phone at the beginning, say what you will)

It sure seams that bridges over the Mississippi river connected with Illinois are pretty high on the pucker power list, that really doesn't surprise me in the least. We have bridges here over small creeks that may have several 6" holes through the concrete bridge deck. Bridge maintenance in IL has not been a very high priority. They pretty much ignore them until the National Highway Administration gets after them to fix something. The old steal deck bridges at least let the water and salt fall through the deck surface.

I go over that bridge a lot going back and forth to Florida, no sir, I don't like it.

What is the name of the tall arched I-95 Bridge in South Carolina?

When the wind is from a particular direction on that bridge it will make a Ram pickup do odd wobbling drifts, even a 2wd Ram without a track bar.

Having driven over it for many years, I'd never really thought of it until a former coworker of mine admitted he had to have somebody else drive so he could keep his eyes closed when going over the Chesapeke Bay Bridge in Maryland. So I just looked it up: https://www.washingtonian.com/2011/08/05/bay-bridge-one-of-americas-ten-scariest/

Enjoy the drive! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-yh8T1i-Wc

Oh, the video doesn't really convey the feeling that you're 200 ft in the air across miles of open water, but it gives you an understanding of how looooonnng it is.

You should drive over it whenever the wind is howling!

Never liked the narrows bridge


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-zczJXSxnw

For me it was the Deer Isle Bridge going to Little Deer Isle, Maine for a delivery. It is a narrow suspension bridge, feeling more so when you're in a truck, and has fairy steep approaches. What made me a little nervous was, while I don't remember any weight limit signs there were signs posted across the bridge stating the distance trucks had to stay away from each other. I haven't seen that any place else before, or since.

The Mackinac Bridge to the UP, ON A WINDY DAY!!!

gallopin' gerty ?

Galloping Gertie bridge is the same root cause as
those Chrysler radio antennas wiggling before they wrapped the stiffening wire coil around the vertical rod.

“Vortex Shedding”

Same root cause as those stop signs that waggle back and forth in hurricane winds,
and why a tall tree sways in the wind.

Those far end of airplane wing add-ons vanes are to control a vortex

I remember years ago right after they started selling the Yugo in the USA a gal in a Yugo was crossing the Big Mack bridge when a gust of wind blew her and her Yugo over the side and into the Straight of Mackinaw. Killed both of them. The center two pains on Big Mack are steel mesh. I once flew a helicopter under Big Mack.

I can't believe it did that for over an hour before collapsing! Always interested me.
Here it is in a Pioneer stereo commercial , https://youtu.be/7_mccjAnCOk

Bridges usually don't bother me. When I was growing up, the father of my best friend was a bridge engineer. I trusted him, so maybe that is why I felt confident on bridges.

One night I was crossing a bridge during a thunderstorm on Interstate 64 in West Virginia. A bolt of lightening struck right in front of my car. The flash of light was blindingly bright and the thunder was instantaneous.. It was pitch black that night with no traffic in the vicinity, so the flash was just over powering to my eyes. There wasn't any long term harm to myself or damage to the car but it certainly shock me up!!!!

Is that a steep/tall one? Does it have another name?

One that seems sketch is the I-71/75 bridge over the Ohio River in Cincinnati. Its a double deck bridge and its old as hell. Another time I had to drive on the parallel bridge due to an accident and I could feel it moving up or down like a wave.

Agree that is a bad one. Ole jugg ears held a press conference there to kick off his shovel ready jobs program. Promised to replace the bride. Never happened but they do did do some repairs and painted it while Trump was in office. When traveling through that area I always take the I-275 West bypass.

Yes it is and I don't know. The last two times I went over it there was an accident slowing traffic to a crawl. Just what I wanted to do, sit on that bridge for an hour.

O
I've been over that bridge many times but not driving, I was just a child and I thought it was beautiful. Now the harbor tunnel, no thank you, seeing the water leaking through the ceiling and walls, didn't care for that at all.

Ugh!

The rope bridge in the Roy Schreider movie "Sorcerer" scares me.


As for a real bridge, the only one was in Passaic County, NJ. I had worked for an engineering firm & one of the engineers who inspected it said he can't believe the county would not close it. The photos he showed me where gussets at several locations were rotted beyond repair.

Kind of like this in MANY places.

My son went to Michigan Tech in Houghton. We were on the way back south one February when they closed it due to high winds. St. Ignace was a giant parking lot for 24 hours. After sitting there for 12 or so, they started caravanning cars across at 10 mph in the outside (paved) lanes with a state cop leading so nobody got any stupid ideas. I've driven across over 100 times, but taking 30 minutes to do it in high winds was NOT fun. I was in my Magnum, so we were OK, but anything much bigger had to wait..

The only other thing that's gone off Big Mac was a suicidal guy in a Bronco on 33's. Guy behind said he turned har right from the inside lane on the causeway section before the actual bridge starts, southbound. vaulted over the rail and broke through the ice. Helluva way to go...

That is a COMPLETE lack of maintenance by the bridge owner. Check the accidents section of wikipedia's Fort Worth Water Gardens.

Water Gardens linky

Fort Worth tried to blame the contractor they bought the light poles from. The reason they fell was lack of maintenance. After columns, or poles like these are installed, grout is packed into the void between the top of pier and bottom of base plate. When exposed as all outdoor columns / poles are the grout deteriorates and must be replaced. It's in the operations manual all building owners require from the contractor. When the grout isn't maintained, the anchor bolts are subject to corrosion and deterioration with eventual failure of the anchoring system. Fort Worth never changed their ways, ~ 10 to 15 years after this event my next door neighbors youngest son was attending TCU and parked his one week old new car on the street, you guessed it, another light pole fell. Fort Worth told him to pound sand, that's why he buys insurance. It's infuriating. Sorry of the rant, I'm in the business and it's especially irritating to us.

the tacoma narrows and the OLD deer isle bridge were the similar design. But the harmonics were peculiar in Tacoma.
Only bridge that got me was the mississippi river bridge between port allen and baton rouge because theres so many damn wrecks both ways regardless of weather. I used to hustle to the junkyard in Port Allen and be there when they opened at 8 and then not get back til 12 bc I was stuck in traffic for 2 hours on a 1 mile jam at 10am on a Saturday. Happened 3 times in 2 years. It was like a joke

ADD- never heard of the Tampa bridge collapse. How horrible

+1 for the Annapolis Bay Bridge. Bridges normally dont bother me but that one does. Low railings where you can look directly out your car and into the water, theres no shoulder, youre 200+' in the air and oh, btw, theres a big bend in the road.

A lot of people are freaked out by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (the 20+ mile one that connects Virginia Beach with the Eastern Shore on US RT 13) but I like to drive it, its really impressive.

sketchy..

Pittsburgh Pa this morning .. I used to live in Pittsburgh and my parents are buried near the bridge location

I guess you can add a large percentage of USA bridges to this list. You've already seen what happened today to the Frick Park bridge in Pittsburgh and it was on the list of over a hundred bridges in Allegheny County rated as POOR.

I used to live in Pittsburgh and my parents are buried near the bridge location, so lucky there were no serious injuries

wow !

Drove over that bridge thousands of times. I have to admit the first few times I did drive over it I was not liking it. Now it doesn`t bother me at all. I have towed cars, boats and campers over it with no issues. If towing a boat make sure you have everything secured down when you get near the highest point as crap will blow off. I do have to say that bridge is always being repaired. It seemed like when they just finished the big resurfacing some years back on the newer span they were back at it cutting holes and patching the concrete. IMO, it`s a poorly run bridge. Constant backups and other issues that seems like it could be managed better. Lots of jumpers off that bridge too. .

well let's just salt the roads and bridges more in the winter...........
i've been over that bridge quite a few times. glad the people are going to be ok !
a long time ago, [if i remember correctly] the motor fuel tax money was folded into the general fund, so guess what ? blow that money on everything BUT roads and bridges ! A$$holes ! GRRRRRRR !
and to top it off, giving all the motorists in this state the "Flying Fickle Finger of Fate" [Laugh In tv show], we have the second highest gas tax in the nation. oh JOY !

Two words. “Salt Brine”.

That one was just built back better!!

No that one was built in 1970 there tricky Dick

Joe looked at that bridge today and said he'll fix it.

This was from 2018.

dam right John !

These bridges scare me so I always brush twice a day