LOL one of those things you need to remind yourself about - watch the road, not the scenery. Same goes for driving up / down mountains. Spectacular views (particularly when there isn't a guardrail or a tree to block you view).Bridges are great when you are a passenger but hard to enjoy the view when you are driving.
LOL one of those things you need to remind yourself about - watch the road, not the scenery. Same goes for driving up / down mountains. Spectacular views (particularly when there isn't a guardrail or a tree to block you view).
What bothers me about bridges, is the same thing that bothers whenever I drive. The blithering, oblivious, I don't give a damn about anyone but me, drivers.
Their unpredictable nature scares the crap out of me.
Bridges are great when you are a passenger but hard to enjoy the view when you are driving.
So... you are the ONE person who drives the Thomas Johnson doing over 25MPH huh?
I've been on a bridge that had some road work being done on it. The traffic for a stretch was 1 lane at a time. While we were on the span waiting our turn to cross I could not believe how much sway there was in the bridge. Driving over you don't notice it but standing still it was rocking and rolling.
I'm not sure when it happened - but as I got older the fear became almost too much to handle. Usually I try to stare straight ahead and fight it, but sometimes it would be like sitting in a room full of growling crocodiles - the fear is just unstoppable.I typically grab the wheel as tight as possible and grit my teeth - and pray.
The Thomas Johnson bridge and the Harry Nice bridge don't scare me, but the Del Memorial and often, the Bay Bridge scare me out of my mind. For some reason, the last time the I went over the Bay Bridge - both ways - it didn't bother me. I guess winds and traffic conditions lead me to feel sometimes as if I am going to go off the side.
Yes. They are designed to do that to avoid ripping apart like the Tacoma Narrows.
I thought the Sway and undulation is what brought down the Narrows bridge? Made a little too elastic..
The first Tacoma Narrows Bridge opened to traffic on July 1, 1940. Its main span collapsed into the Tacoma Narrows four months later on November 7, 1940, at 11:00 a.m. (Pacific time) as a result of aeroelastic flutter caused by a 42 mph (68 km/h) wind. The bridge collapse had lasting effects on science and engineering. In many undergraduate physics texts the event is presented as an example of elementary forced resonance, with the wind providing an external periodic frequency that matched the natural structural frequency, even though the real cause of the bridge's failure was aeroelastic flutter. A contributing factor was its solid sides, not allowing wind to pass through the bridge's deck. Thus, its design allowed the bridge to catch the wind and sway, which ultimately took it down.[2] Its failure also boosted research in the field of bridge aerodynamics and aeroelastics, fields which have influenced the designs of all the world's great long-span bridges built since 1940.
Deflection killed it,, to much up and down and when it twisted,,,, it had massive failure.
Frequency resonance causing oscillation..
The video shows how incredibly flexible the bridge was...up to the point it failed.
When they were working on the Harry Nice bridge back in summer '86 we had to stop at the top a couple of times on our way home from work in Dahlgren. That joker was all over the place.I've been on a bridge that had some road work being done on it. The traffic for a stretch was 1 lane at a time. While we were on the span waiting our turn to cross I could not believe how much sway there was in the bridge. Driving over you don't notice it but standing still it was rocking and rolling.
When they were working on the Harry Nice bridge back in summer '86 we had to stop at the top a couple of times on our way home from work in Dahlgren. That joker was all over the place.
Went over the Thomas Johnson today, there was a chunk out of the side barrier on the southbound upslope.
Take a boat ride under it and look up..
I already said that in Post #2.