Blue Water Bridge

42.998666666667 - 82.423472222222Koordinaten: 42 ° 59 ' 55.2 "N, 82 ° 25' 24.5 " W

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St. Clair River

The Blue Water Bridge is a zweispannige bridge that extends into Ontario through the St. Clair River between Port Huron, Michigan and Point Edward. The bridge connects on the Canadian side of the Highway 402 connects with Interstate 69 and Interstate 94 on the U.S. side of the border. The original building from 1938 is a Gerber truss bridge, and the second, much later built carriageway was constructed as an arch support bridge with drawstring.

The first bridge was opened on 10 October 1938 the traffic. The chief engineer was Ralph Modjeski. This bridge originally had two lanes for vehicles, as well as sidewalks for pedestrians that were removed in the 1980s to make room for a third lane. The third lane for each direction began in the middle of the bridge to be the long tailbacks righteous before the border crossings on both sides.

The second bridge, which lies to the south, next to the first bridge was opened on 22 July 1997. Prior to the customs inspection bodies and the tollgate had been extensively remodeled. Immediately after the release of the new building, the old bridge was closed for renovation and reopened in 1999; while a similar configuration of the three lanes was retained on the new bridge.

The old bridge is a Gerber truss bridge with a total length of 1883 m and a main span of 265 m. The second bridge is an arch bridge with a total length of 1862 m and a main span of 281 m. The construction project was a collaborative work of the American architect Modjeski & Masters, and the Canadian architects Buckland & Taylor Ltd.. The public had five possibilities of realization advocated during the debate between 1994 and 1995 for the most part a duplicate of the old bridge and one in five were in favor of a cable-stayed bridge. The Blue Water Bridge Authority had rejected both proposals, since in their opinion, a duplicate would create a false sense of history, while the suspension bridge would have put the existing bridge architecturally in the shade. The selected design of an arched bridge, which had landed at the polls on a distant third place, was chosen for two reasons. It is on the one hand a standalone building that fits architecturally to the original solution, on the other hand, the maintenance costs are lower because the bridge with less tension fields manages.

The two bridges are together one of the busiest thoroughfares between the United States and Canada. They are one of the four shortest road connections between the New England states and Michigan. Owner of the bridge are equal Canada and the United States. The Canadian side is maintained by the Blue Water Bridge Authority and the Michigan Department of Transportation ( MDOT ) is responsible for the American side. As to the maintenance and operation of the bridge a toll is charged.

The Blue Water Bridge was the filming location for the movie The Prophecy with Kim Basinger from 2000, in which they had to serve for a bridge in New York City and was also in the strip Mr. Bill by director Penny Marshall in front of 1994, in the Danny DeVito starred.