When going over these bridges, hold your breath!
10.) Thousand Islands Bridge
Location: Connects Upstate New York with Ontario
Opened: 1937
One wouldn't expect a bridge named for the most delicious of dressings would be bad, but combine this bridge's height and narrowness with the fact that it's in one of the snowiest parts of the country, and yeah, you might be clenching driving over it.
Suggested By: Scootin159, Photo Credit: Ad Meskens
9.) Kosciuszko Bridge
Location: Connects Brooklyn and Queens, NY
Opened: 1939
In a city filled with bad bridges, being named the "most troubled" is quite an impressive feat. Hopefully its replacement comes soon, if it ever comes at all.
Suggested By: elvinrivera, Photo Credit: rollingrck
8.) Naheola Bridge
Location: Pennington, Alabama
Built: 1934
Reader IDM3 can telly you why this one-lane bridge is fear itself:
" This bridge was used by both automobile and train traffic until a few years ago when the Alabama DOT set up a new bridge for automobile traffic.
This is a one-lane bridge. A Traffic light was used to allow cars to pass at intervals.
When the train approached, they always got the right of way. No arguments.
Whenever tugboats approached the bridge, someone had to climb into the control house on top of the bridge and raise the midsection to allow the boat to go under."
Suggested By: IDM3, Photo Credit: Google Maps
7.) Brent Spence Bridge
Location: Connects Covington, KY and Cincinnati, OH over Ohio River
Opened: 1963
From reader Jester6642:
" Yeah, remember the time it was declared "functionally obsolete?" Or the time pieces of the upper deck kinda sorta maybe fell down onto the lower deck? I mean, just a few couple-hundred-pound chunks of concrete. Nothing serious.
And the fact that it used to be 3 lanes with a shoulder until they realized it was way over capacity, so they repainted it to 4 lanes, no shoulder and no chance of not screwing up the entire tri-state area if there's a breakdown. And those are some of the tightest 4 lanes anywhere on this planet.
Until you're headed northbound on I-75 or I-71 (hey, close enough, they can pretend to be the same road for a minute) between two semis with what appear to be inches of clearance under the amazingly badly placed signs trying to figure out where Cincinnati decided to move the exit (right or left? I swear it used to be right...) you, sir or madam, have not truly lived."
Suggested By: Arch Duke Maxyenko, SHAZAM!, Photo Credit: John P Salvatore
6.) Portal Bridge
Location: Kearny, NJ over the Hackensack River
Opened: 1910
Thankfully no cars have to drive over this bridge, but that doesn't stop it from being a nightmare. Let SuperSubaru tell you.
"Over 500 trains a day pass over the thing. It limits train speeds. And get this - it has to swing open to allow boat traffic to pass. Yes the whole damn bridge has to swing 90 degrees sideways to allow boats to pass, and then the whole damn bridge has to swing 90 degrees back in place.
This mechanism breaks. A lot. And when it breaks literally hundreds of thousands of NY area commuters are delayed."
Suggested By: SuperSubaru, Photo Credit: NEC Commission
5.) Chesapeake Bay Bridge
Location: Stevensville, MD
Opened: 1952
Tall, narrow, long, low guardrails, no shoulders, frequently terrible weather — basically a recipe for disaster. Good luck if you have to drive over this bridge in a bad storm.
Suggested By: Michael, Photo Credit: Library of Congress
4.) Pulaski Skyway
Location: Newark, NJ
Opened: 1932
Due to its poor design, trucks were banned from this bridge not even two years after it opened. That pretty much tells you all you need to know about this turd.
Suggested By: Captain Pedantic, AWAY!, Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
3.) Hebert C. Bonner Bridge
Location: Nags Head, NC
Built: 1963
After you read what Kaufmania has to say about this bridge, you'll avoid it like the plague.
"The 50 year old pre-stressed concrete bridge is possibly as strong as the day it was built. However, crazy OBX currents mean ever shifting sands under the bridge foundations. They are literally washing away the earth the supports stand on.
They recently found two of the supports had NO earth under them at all, literally just hanging in place. To top it off, a replacement is tied up in legal hell as politicians and environmentalists scwable over tit for tat."
Suggested By: Kaufmania, rolls with the back seat down pretending its a shooting brake, Photo Credit: Ken Lund
2.) Atchafalaya Basin Bridge
Location: Atchafalaya Basin, LA
Opened: 1973
Over 18 miles and just 2 exits. So, if someone has an accident, everyone is screwed.
Suggested By: GreenAcurasAreTheCarsForMe, Photo Credit: blsturman
1.) Alaskan Way Viaduct
Location: Seattle, WA
Opened: 1953
I imagine the design briefing for this bridge went something like this: "Sure! Lets build a multi-level viaduct in an area with frequent earthquakes! Great!"
Thankfully, a safer replacement is on its way.
Suggested By: Satoshi "Mobius 1" Katsura, Photo Credit: Joe Mabel
Welcome back to Answers of the Day - our daily Jalopnik feature where we take the best ten responses from the previous day's Question of the Day and shine it up to show off. It's by you and for you, the Jalopnik readers. Enjoy!
Top Photo Credit: Smkybear