Oh, the Mackinac Bridge, you are an icon for so much.
When public and private interests intersected for the good of the state.
When lawmakers around the state stopped bashing on Detroit to be pro-Michigan for once.
When engineering projects were sexy.
When the marvels of the modern age were embraced, not poohpoohed.
One trip over this glorious span that straddles Lake Michigan and Huron -- actually the same waterway -- and you'll have a new appreciation for human accomplishment. Roman engineering built roads and bridges that lasted for centuries, and Michigan technology devised a 5 mile long behemoth that united the Lower and Upper Peninsulas in a massive feat of steel girders, concrete structures, and wires thick around as a pair of hugging sumo wrestlers. Nothing captures the scale and scope of the bridge other than being on it, and I would make the six hour drive from Ferndale in a heartbeat to walk across it end to end like the Sydney Harbour Bridge has every so often.
The Mackinac has its share of legends and wonders, like the high winds that make the wires sing and the way the metal grid disappears when you're at speed. Ride a motorcycle across and you get the unnerving, terrifying (and exhilarating!) feeling that the ground just disappeared and you're suspended dozens of feet above the milky turquoise waters whipped to a froth. It's absolutely humbling.
Views of the Mitten and the Glove are unparalleled from up there. I found it a bit dizzying to realize I was watching freighters laden with cargo sailing serenely under me, and water stretched as far as the eye could see. White lacy beaches spill out from under a pine cloak, and the sheer optics of the water could lead me to think I was somewhere in the subtropics if not for the trees and a brisk breeze.
I hope every Michigander and Ontarian travels the Mackinac at least once, and then goes home to spend their tax dollars and press their politicians at all levels not to less this feat be an accomplishment of the far past. Look at what wonders we can make, and what glorious accomplishments we can do.
PS, the toll booth people are pretty darned friendly. read more