Blue Water Bridge Postcard

The Blue Water Bridge is a twin-span bridge that spans the St. Clair River between Port Huron, Michigan and Point Edward, Ontario (near Sarnia, Ontario). The Blue Water Bridge connects with Highway 402 in Ontario and with both Interstate 69 and Interstate 94 in Michigan. The original span is a cantilever truss bridge and the second span is a continuous tied arch bridge.

Blue Water Bridge Postcard(PH Wish from Sarah Konichek)

The first bridge is a cantilever truss with a total length of 6,178 feet (1,883 m). The main span is 871 feet (265 m). The second bridge is a continuous tied arch with a total length of 6,109 feet (1,862 m). The main span is 922 feet (281 m). The twinning project was a combined effort between Modjeski & Masters - U.S Engineers and Buckland & Taylor Ltd. - Canadian Engineers.

The first bridge was opened to traffic on October 10, 1938. The lead engineer was Ralph Modjeski. A second three-lane bridge, just south of the first bridge, opened on July 22, 1997. The continuous-tied arch design, which was a distant third place in polls, was chosen for two reasons. One was that it blends in with the original span yet stands out on its own, and the other is lower maintenance costs because fewer spans are involved.

Design: Cantilever truss (westbound), Continuous tied arch (eastbound)
Longest span: 871 feet (265 m) (westbound), 922 feet (281 m) (eastbound)
Total length: 6,178 feet (1,883 m) (westbound), 6,109 feet (1,862 m) (eastbound)
Width: 38 feet (12 m) (westbound), 51 feet (16 m) (eastbound)
Height: 210 feet (64 m) (westbound), 233 feet (71 m) (eastbound)
Clearance below: 152 feet (46 m) (westbound), 155 feet (47 m) (eastbound)

SOURCE:Blue Water Bridge Wikipedia Entry

Hoffstadt Creek Bridge, WA Postcard

The Hoffstadt Creek bridge is the longest of 14 along the new Spirit Lake Memorial Highway (the western approach to Mt. St. Helens). The bridge's total length is 2340 feet, and is 370 feet above Hoffstadt Creek. The main span is 600 feet long and 370 feet above the stream bed. A series of piers support three sections of steel truss (clearly seen in these views), as well as four sections of steel plate girders at the bridge's eastern end.

Hoffstadt Creek Bridge Postcard
(PH Wish from Janet Durfee)

Overview: Deck truss bridge over Hoffstadt Creek on WA 504
Location: Cowlitz County, Washington
Built: 1987 - 1994
Design: Deck truss
Length of largest span: 600.1 ft.
Total length: 2,340.0 ft.
Deck width: 32.2 ft.

SOURCES:
Hoffstadt Creek Bridge
Spirit Lake Memorial Highway

Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge, FL Postcard

The Sunshine Skyway Bridge, spanning Florida's Tampa Bay, is the world's longest bridge with a cable-stayed main span, with a length of 29,040 feet (exactly 5.5 miles or approximately 8.85 km). Construction of the current bridge began in 1982, and the completed bridge was dedicated on February 7, 1987. The new bridge cost $244 million to build, and was opened to traffic on April 20, 1987. In November 2005, an act of Florida Legislature officially named the current bridge the Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge, after the Governor of Florida who presided over its design and most of its construction.

Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge Postcard
(PH Wish from Linda Jenkins)

The bridge is constructed of steel and concrete. Twenty-one steel cables clad in nine-inch steel tubes along the center line of the bridge support the structure. It was designed by the Figg & Muller Engineering Group, and built by the American Bridge Company.
The present bridge replaces a steel cantilever bridge. The original two-lane bridge was completed in 1954, with a similar structure built parallel to it in 1969 to make it a four-lane bridge and bring it to Interstate standards. The remaining approaches to the old cantilever bridge remain in use as Skyway Fishing Pier State Park.

Design: Continuous pre-stressed concrete cable-stayed bridge
Longest span: 365.8 meters (1200 feet)
Total length: 8851.392 meters (5.5 miles)
Width: 28.7 meters (94 feet)
Vertical clearance: 58.8 meters (193 feet)
Clearance below: 53.3 meters (175 feet)

The southbound span of the original bridge (the one built in 1969) was destroyed on May 9, 1980, when the freighter MV Summit Venture collided with a pier (support column) during a storm, sending over 1200 feet (366m) of the bridge plummeting into Tampa Bay. The collision caused six automobiles and a Greyhound bus to fall 150 feet (46 m), killing 35 people.
In 1990 the Florida Department of Transportation awarded the winning bid to the Hardaway Company to demolish all steel and concrete sections of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. The scope of the project required that all underwater piles and piers, and surface roadway, girders, and beams be dismantled.

SOURCE:Sunshine Skyway Bridge Wikipedia Entry

Benjamin Franklin Bridge Postcard

The Benjamin Franklin Bridge (also known as the Ben Franklin Bridge), originally named the Delaware River Bridge, is a suspension bridge across the Delaware River connecting Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Camden, New Jersey. It was named for American statesman Benjamin Franklin.

Benjamin Franklin Bridge Postcard
(PH Wish from Linda Jenkins)

The chief engineer was Polish-born Ralph Modjeski, its design engineer was Leon Moisseiff, and the supervising architect was Paul Philippe Cret. Physical construction of the Delaware River Bridge began on January 6, 1922. At its completion on July 1, 1926, its 533-metre span made it the world's longest suspension bridge span, a distinction it would hold until the opening of the Ambassador Bridge in 1929.

Design: steel suspension bridgeLongest span: 533.4 meters (1,750 feet)Total length: 2,917.86 meters (9,573 feet)Width: 39.01 meters (128 feet)Vertical clearance: 5.12 meters (16.8 feet)Clearance below: 41.19 meters (135 feet)

SOURCE:
Benjamin Franklin Bridge Wikipedia Entry

Brooklyn Bridge, NY Postcard

The next postcard is the night view of Brooklyn Bridge with the Twin Towers still standing in the background.

The Brooklyn Bridge, one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States, stretches 5,989 feet (1825 m) over the East River connecting the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. On completion, it was the largest suspension bridge in the world and the first steel-wire suspension bridge. Originally referred to as the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, it was dubbed the Brooklyn Bridge in an 1867 letter to the editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and formally so named by the city government in 1915.

Brooklyn Bridge Postcard
(Trade with Barbara Sussman)

The bridge was designed by German-born John Augustus Roebling in Trenton, New Jersey. Washington Roebling became assistant engineer on the Brooklyn Bridge, and rose to chief engineer after John Roebling's death in mid-1869. He made several important improvements on the bridge design and further developed bridge building techniques. Construction began in January 3, 1870. The Brooklyn Bridge was completed thirteen years later and was opened for use on May 24, 1883. The towers are built of limestone, granite, and Rosendale cement. Their architectural style is Gothic, with characteristic pointed arches above the passageways through the stone towers.

Design: Suspension/Cable-stay Hybrid

Longest span: 1,595 feet 6 inches (486.3 m)Total length: 5,989 feet (1825 m)Width: 85 feet (26 m)Clearance below: 135 feet (41 m) at mid-span

SOURCE:
Brooklyn Bridge Wikipedia Entry