Ambassador Bridge Postcard

The Ambassador Bridge is a privately owned suspension bridge that connects Detroit, Michigan, in the United States, with Windsor, Ontario, in Canada. The bridge is owned by the Detroit International Bridge Co., which is controlled by Grosse Pointe billionaire Manuel "Matty" Moroun. Construction began in 1927 and was completed in 1929. The architect was the McClintic-Marshall Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Ambassador Bridge Postcard
(PH Wish from Sarah Konichek)

The bridge, over the Detroit River, had the longest suspended central span in the world when it was completed in 1929 — 1,850 feet (564 m). The total bridge length is 7,500 feet (2,286 m). The bridge is styled in a mixture of Art Deco and Streamline Moderne architectural designs, with some Gothic architecture blended in. It is made primarily out of steel; however, the two main towers on each side of the river are made of a steel-silicon alloy which rise up from concrete piers. The towers rise 386 feet (118 m) above the river, and plunge 115 feet (35 m) below the surface of the Detroit River. The bridge is made up of 21,000 tons of steel, and the roadway rises as high as 152 feet (46 m) above the Detroit River.

Design: Suspension bridgeLongest span: 1,850 feet (564 m)Total length: 7,500 feet (2,286 m)Clearance below: 152 feet (46 m)

SOURCE:Ambassador Bridge Wikipedia Entry

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