Mackinac Bridge Research Paper

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Have you ever thought about driving over a suspension bridge held up by cables? That’s what the Mackinac Bridge is. With the building of the Mackinac Bridge there has been many positive effects that have come out of it. How exactly did the Mackinac Bridge start? It started back around 1884 when they started thinking about it. The Lansing Republic newspaper , dated February 5th 1884, reprinted a story from the Grand Traverse Herald pointing out that the experiment to provide all year service across the straights by boat had failed, and if that a great east west route were ever to be established through Michigan a bridge or tunnel would have be required. They considered both as possible, the only question in their mind was cost (History of the Bridge 1). The bridge was designed by the Great Engineer David B. Steinman. (Mackinac Bridge 1). The Mackinac Bridge was built across the straits which is an important water route between Lake Michigan and the Atlantic Ocean. The straits connect Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. (World Book 24). The Mackinac Bridge connects the Upper Lilly 2 Peninsula and Lower Peninsula of Michigan. Ground was broken to build the Mackinac Bridge on May 7th 1954 and opened to the public on November 1st, 1957 …show more content…

71,300 tons of structural steel, 931,000 tons of concrete 42,000 miles of cable wire weighting 11,840 tons, 4,851,700 steel rivets and 1,016,600 steel bolts were all used in the building of the Mackinac Bridge. 1,024,500 tons in total weight is what all this ends up weighting to (Mackinac Bridge 3) (Mackinac Bridge 8). The Main Mackinac Bridge towers reach 554 ft above water and 210 ft beneath the surface to bedrock (Mackinac Bridge 8). To contain temperature changes, high winds and changes of weight on the Mackinac bridge, the deck can move left or right as much as 35 ft at center span. (Mackinac Bridge 9). The total Building time of the bridge was 48 months/ 4

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