My hometown used to have one of those old swing bridges. Sadly, it has sold it's soul to the tourists so the bridge was demolished and a four lane high rise bridge replaced it. I can remember sitting on old bus number 3 waiting for the bridge to close. It was a quieter, better and happier time back then.
An excellent question.... and I have the DEFINITIVE answer: (In other words... all will become crystal clear.) *The bridge was constructed over 100 years ago by the Algoma Railway company to allow for TRAINS to reach Manitoulin Island* . The bridge predates the automobile and was never intended for vehicular traffic of any kind. Period. To create a curved bridge would make train based traffic impossible. Trains cannot cross arched bridges. Since the bridge will be replaced in the near future, I'm HOPING they will develop a new modern swing bridge that allows for 2-way traffic flow and NOT build an arched bridge. To create a fixed arched bridge that sailboats could pass underneath would mean constructing a much larger, much higher, and therefore much longer (as in 3-4x longer) bridge. Think Ambassador Bridge in Windsor/Detroit. It would likely cost far more money to construct something like that than the cost of a modernized swing bridge that has two lane traffic flow. Not to mention the tourist/heritage value of having one of the world's only swing bridges.
![This is the only bridge to a massive island. It's falling apart. [LH]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/os_fYLgiAM8/mqdefault.jpg)
My hometown used to have one of those old swing bridges. Sadly, it has sold it's soul to the tourists so the bridge was demolished and a four lane high rise bridge replaced it. I can remember sitting on old bus number 3 waiting for the bridge to close. It was a quieter, better and happier time back then.
This is awesome, I work on one of the swing bridges in South Carolina. This one is huge!
Lovely!
Why don't they just make it curve more higher? Would be much cheaper than making this kind of things + guy working on that lil cabin 24/7
An excellent question.... and I have the DEFINITIVE answer: (In other words... all will become crystal clear.)
*The bridge was constructed over 100 years ago by the Algoma Railway company to allow for TRAINS to reach Manitoulin Island* . The bridge predates the automobile and was never intended for vehicular traffic of any kind. Period. To create a curved bridge would make train based traffic impossible. Trains cannot cross arched bridges.
Since the bridge will be replaced in the near future, I'm HOPING they will develop a new modern swing bridge that allows for 2-way traffic flow and NOT build an arched bridge. To create a fixed arched bridge that sailboats could pass underneath would mean constructing a much larger, much higher, and therefore much longer (as in 3-4x longer) bridge. Think Ambassador Bridge in Windsor/Detroit. It would likely cost far more money to construct something like that than the cost of a modernized swing bridge that has two lane traffic flow. Not to mention the tourist/heritage value of having one of the world's only swing bridges.
The bridges over 100 years ago, that time I think no big boat go ....