Community Chat

[Oznell]

Gosh, I really enjoy all this bridge lore, and personal stories and stunning photos you all have put up....

[Kachina624]

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@SilleeMee wrote:

@Oznell 

Have you been over the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado? It's worth the trip out there just to walk over it...or drive over it...you'll get the best experience by walking over it. It kind of sways and you can see between the planks below your feet and see the gorge and river below. It's almost 1,000 feet down to the river. Spectacular!

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@SilleeMee.  I have a thing about high places and waited in the car while the rest of the gang visited the bridge.  Same with the Taos Gorge Bridge.  I can drive over it just fine but can't walk anywhere near it.  I always think of the poor guy who was thrown off the bridge in a drug deal gone bad.  The terror he must have felt....  There have been many suicides there.  It's 676 ft high.

[SilleeMee]

@Kachina624 

There's a thing called the Royal Gorge Go Fast Games. It's an annual event where people bungee jump off of that bridge!! So far there have been only two events. This year is the second annual affair for them. They also do zip-lining across the gorge. I don't think so...heck no.

[Nightowlz]

No Way am I going across any of those. I hate bridges. You never know when one may collapse. I would have a spaz attack if you put me there.

I don't know which is worse bridges over water or going through tunnels under the water.

This one in Mobile Alabama we went over a bridge than through the tunnel under water. I was freaking out. I told DH to step on it. DH said he was not going that way again. LOL!!!

[mousiegirl]

@Oznell   WOW, that IS scary, twenty-four miles.  I find this bridge, SF Bay, scary when driving over it, and it is short, lol.

[Catiele]

Have been Over a few bridges in my life and liked them. Not the heavy duty ones. My favorite bridges are the covered ones. Old fashioned and scenic.

[jellyBEAN]

I really njoyed marvelling at all these bridges and tunnels.  Feats of engineering to say the least.  I grew up in the NYC metro area and have been thru Lincoln and Holland tunnels and many of the bridges - Varrazanno, GW, TappanZee (old one), Goethals and thought I was OK with them.  But after looking at these photos it sure does give me pause. 

Where I live now we have bridges but they are quite short compared to those pictured here and no problem.  I bet there are some scary ones in Europe and Asia as well. 

[gidgetgh]

This is the bridge that almost did us in.  Ok, so I am being a little dramatic.  It’s just north of Mobile on I-65. Nicknamed the Dolly Parton Bridge. 

70 mph speed limit, really long approach, from either direction. You can see that bridge from a long way away. Gives you time to get nervous.  Last time I drove it, it was early morning and, fortunately, not many cars on the road at all.  We were going north and no one was in my rear view mirror at all. My palms started to sweat and I couldn’t maintain the speed limit and I drove over the bridge, STRADDLING the two lanes, at 35 mph. I was terrified that I would veer and drive us into the Mobile River.  It’s the spires. They’re too high for me and make me feel “vertigoish”. Never again.  I wouldn’t be able to do it even if someone in my car’s life was at stake. I don’t know what I would have done if we’d been in traffic. No way could I maintain one lane.  I felt too much of a pull to the side. 

I get nervous even seeing a picture of it.

[CANDLEQUEEN]

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@gidgetgh wrote:

This is the bridge that almost did us in.  Ok, so I am being a little dramatic.  It’s just north of Mobile on I-65. Nicknamed the Dolly Parton Bridge. 

70 mph speed limit, really long approach, from either direction. You can see that bridge from a long way away. Gives you time to get nervous.  Last time I drove it, it was early morning and, fortunately, not many cars on the road at all.  We were going north and no one was in my rear view mirror at all. My palms started to sweat and I couldn’t maintain the speed limit and I drove over the bridge, STRADDLING the two lanes, at 35 mph. I was terrified that I would veer and drive us into the Mobile River.  It’s the spires. They’re too high for me and make me feel “vertigoish”. Never again.  I wouldn’t be able to do it even if someone in my car’s life was at stake. I don’t know what I would have done if we’d been in traffic. No way could I maintain one lane.  I felt too much of a pull to the side. 

I get nervous even seeing a picture of it.

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@gidgetgh . I am getting nervous just looking at the photo. Yikes!

[Free2be]

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@house_cat wrote:

I spent most of my life in the NYC area - drove over bridges daily and they never frightened me.  I think there's something about the closed-in design of those bridges that made me feel safe.

However, most bridges freak me out.  A few years ago we stayed in an absolutely magical hotel in Astoria, Oregon. The hotel was built into the Columbia River.  It was absolutely spectacular, but it was pretty much underneath this bridge and it terrified me.  We were there for three days and thankfully, there were other bridges in the area that I could use instead, otherwise, I would have turned right around and never made it to Washington.

ETA: When we were first married we drove down the east coast and dH wanted to take the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which I think was pretty new at the time and it's "twin" was not there yet. I was clueless and he didn't tell me it was 17 miles long with two tunnels.  When that bridge disappeared into the first tunnel I thought I was going to die of fright.  We took it again, years later with my kids and I closed my eyes and prayed all the way across.  I think there's a gift shop of some kind along that bridge and of course my kids wanted to stop.  Not an experience I want to repeat.

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I cross this bridge several times a month for shopping and appointments.  It took me a few trips to get used to it but now it's easy.  The hard part now is the tourists who slow down in the middle to take in the scenic Columbia River in a 55 mph zone.