Let’s Play a Mackinac Bridge “Didja Know”

Summer's almost here and there'll plenty of traveling up North, and since the Mackinac Bridge is arguably the state's most famous site, let's play a game of "didja know".

The folks at the Michigan Department of Transportation sent out this fun tweet as we head into the travel season. Just some facts and figures about "The Bridge" from the Mackinac Bridge Authority.

For instance, didja know there are 42,000 miles of cables. And didja know the Bridge weighs 1,024,500 tons.

Here;s something only an engineering type might think of, but, in building the Bridge, they used 4000 engineering drawings, and created some 85,000 Blueprints back in the early to mid 1950's, when the Bridge was being built, which took over three and a half years, to open in 1957.

And that's another thing: Imagine not having easy access to a significant portion of your state. Driving down to Chicago and up past Milwaukee into northern Wisconsin isn't a workable solution.

Back to the numbers. Almost 5 million steel rivets and a million steel bolts on the Mighty Mac. And finally, didja know, a mid-span, the water is 295 feet deep (and probably chilly).