Mackinac Bridge - Dave’s Midwestern Ohio Memories

A Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s.

Mackinac Bridge

The above photo of the frozen underside of the Mackinac Bridge was the runaway winner of the 2017 Detroit News photo contest. A friend and fellow retiree participated in the contest, so I took an interest and voted on-line. My friends photo is shown below and was one of the finalists.

My first trip over the Mackinac Bridge occurred in 1968 and was documented in this previous blog post. Since that time, we’ve made a number of trips across the bridge and always come away amazed at the edifice itself as well as the vistas of the straits from the bridge. One can see the entire 5 mile bridge from nearby Mackinaw Island as shown in the panorama below.

The bridge was constructed in 1957 at a cost of $83 million. Imagine what it would cost today? Click this link for an interesting documentary on the bridge construction by legendary announcer Lowell Thomas.

The bridge handles about 5 million crossings per year peaking at 600,000 each month during the summer and dropping to 200,000 a month in winter. Every Labor Day since the bridge opened, Michigan’s governor has lead thousands of walkers across the bridge. For the first time this year, for safety reasons and because the bridge walk has become so popular, the entire bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic during the walk, so imagine the photo below with all lanes filled with walkers.

The Bridge Authority offers charitable non-profits the opportunity raise funds by having their donors bid on a visit to the top of one of the bridge towers. Here’s a short video about the experience including some amazing views.

The above favorite photo shows the bridge at sunset with a huge freighter underneath. And this dramatic video shows the northern lights over the bridge. Finally, check out what’s going on at the bridge at this very moment by clicking this link to the Bridge Authority’s live cams. Check them again on Labor Day morning to see the walkers crossing.

All this bridge talk has gotten me itching for another ride across the straits before the summer is over. Road trip, anyone?