MACKINAW CITY, ST IGNACE MI (WKZO AM/FM) – The state’s most iconic symbol celebrates a birthday on Monday.
The Mackinac Bridge, once dismissed as a waste of money and a folly, officially opened 64 years ago on November 1, 1957, as then Governor G. Mennen Williams took the first trip across the bridge.
Construction on the “Mighty Mac” began in May of 1954, with it opening to traffic on November 1st, 1957.
The formal opening took place in June of 1958.
The cost to cross the bridge then was $3.25, which would be almost 30 dollars in today’s money.
It costs a car $4 to cross today.
Efforts to build the bridge began in the late 1890s, but delays and opposition delayed the construction until 1954.
Dr. David Steinman was the chief engineer on the project, and the bridge’s biggest fan.
After a bridge in Washington state collapsed under moderate wind condition, Steinman was convinced that his concept for the Mackinac Bridge would not suffer the same fate, and made sure to emphasize that the bridge would withstand a straight line wind of over 150 miles per hour.
In 1959, an Air Force pilot flew a B-47 bomber underneath the bridge. The pilot was court-martialed and never flew again in the military.
