Engineers and designers spend their working lives ensuring that bridges are safe. Your brain doesn't always appreciate this, however, and sometimes for very good reasons. These are the ten scariest bridges in the world as chosen by Jalopnik readers.
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Photo Credit: Harald Karlsen
10.) Any Eisenhower-era highway bridge in Massachusetts (or anywhere else in America, for that matter)
Suggested By: Spatev
Why it's so scary: Investment in American infrastructure is unfortunately not a major priority in these budget-conscious times. And maintaining what exists is much less sexy than planning and building something new. The result is a bunch of rust, chipping concrete, and anxiety-induced indigestion.
Photo Credit: rolled_trousers
9.) The Mackinac Bridge, Michigan
Suggested By: Honda_Hooning_Daily_Driver
Why it's so scary: Two things: First, no bridge on Earth has a greater gap between anchorages. That's a lot of steel and concrete being held up there. Second, the Mackinac has a reputation for letting traffic be blown off the bridge into the Strait below. A Bronco went over the railing in 1997, but that was ruled a suicide; most believe that the Yugo that took the dive in 1989 was simply lifted and tossed over like a toy.
Photo Credit: mackinacbridge.org
8.) Royal Gorge Bridge and Park, Cañon City, Colorado.
Suggested By: E34IsAnUnderratedE30..ExceptBetter
Why it's so scary: As if this bridge over a particularly nasty gash in the Earth isn't enough to induce massive vertigo, they've gone and built an amusement park around it to keep you there longer.
Photo Credit: en.wikipedia.org
7.) The Confederation Bridge between Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, Canada
Suggested By: SennaMP4
Why it's so scary: It's eight miles long and stretches over very, very cold water. If that doesn't scare you, the toll ($43.25 Canadian) collected at the Prince Edward end will.
Photo Credit: en.wikipedia.org
6.) The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel
Suggested By: MatDubord
Why it's so scary: Many people have a fear that when they drive over a bridge, they'll end up in the water. This engineering masterpiece makes sure you do that, if in a controlled and dry manner. Also: twenty-three friggin' miles.
Photo Credit: en.wikipedia.org
5.) Estrada Puerto Suarez, Bolivia
Suggested By: menacho_
Why it's so scary: Not only is it a one-lane bridge. Not only is it a rickety as hell one-lane bridge. It's a a rickety as hell one-lane bridge where trains have the right-of-way.
4.) The Millau Viaduct
Suggested By: JT_3K
Why it's so scary: A civil engineer's dream, an acrophobe's nightmare. This minimalist creation has been carrying four lanes of the A75 autoroute through the air above the River Tarn valley since late 2004. There are longer bridges and higher bridges, but few (if any) combine the two to this degree.
Photo Credit: en.wikipedia.org
3.) Quepos Bridge, Costa Rica
Suggested By: ∞Gîmmî∞Sagaŋ∞ðm∞Drakeŋ∞Visiting From Negative Earth
Why it's so scary: The Quepos Bridge is here to proudly represent every creaky battered decayed bridge in the Third World that looks incapable of supporting a bicycle. Still, untold thousands of these rickety structures carry traffic every day, doing their part to make a harsh existence more convenient. And exciting.
2.) The Storseisundbrua, Atlantic Highway, Norway
Suggested By: zundefolge1342
Why it's so scary: Many people give Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard credit for inventing existentialism; he would appreciate this bridge, further north in Scandinavia, that feels like no less of a leap into the unknown.
Photo Credit: xdmag
1.) The Original Tacoma Narrows Bridge, 1940
Suggested By: Rintor
Why it's so scary: Galloping Gertie opened for traffic on July 1, 1940, as the third-longest suspension bridge in the world, and a 40-mph wind tore it apart just over four months later. The lessons learned from the experience revolutionized bridge-building.
If you have ever taken an engineering-related college course –statics, materials, even just a good first-semester physics class – the YouTube clip above is going to be six minutes of the most terrifying video you will ever watch.