Welcome to the Roadscapes Wednesday segment! Each week here on Geek Alabama, Roadscapes Wednesday will feature roads and infrastructure related topics. Geek Alabama Editor / Publisher Nathan Young is often called the “road geek” for a good reason, Nathan loves roads and loves talking about roads!
There is a four-mile gap between Michigan’s peninsulas where wind, ice, and water behave like an ocean.
For decades, that gap decided when Michigan worked as a whole — and when it didn’t.
In this episode of Engineering the Impossible, we explore how the Mackinac Bridge was built across one of the most hostile environments in the Great Lakes, why conventional bridge designs failed here, and how engineer David B. Steinman ignored prevailing wisdom to build a structure designed to survive wind without limits.
From unstable geology hidden beneath the Straits, to icy gales that once shut down ferry traffic for days at a time, this is the story of how a permanent crossing finally conquered a barrier that never wanted to be crossed.
