DaveH6
Chesapeake Bay Bridge
Forecast for October 25, 2011 was 70 degrees, blue skies and winds out of the West 10-15 knots. So...should I spend the day working on the master bath renovation or go sailing? This picture tells the answer.
The brdge structure to the right is the orginal two lane span that opened in 1952 and at the time was the world's longest continuous over-water steel structure. The parallel span to the left opened in 1973.
In my high school years, on a Summer's Sunday evening, sometimes it was up to 6 hours of stop and go traffic heading West towards the bridge approach after a weekend in Ocean City Maryland. The three lane second span eliminated the long waits.
The first span was considered a strategic asset by the Defense Department thus at the Western end of this bridge was a 24 acre site with a battery of Nike missles. These were expected to shoot down Russian bombers before they could drop the bridge or bomb Washington and Baltimore. Per documents declassifed in the late 1970s, the Nike missles may have carried nuclear warheads. Today the missles are long gone and the site is now Sandy Point state park.
Regrettably and with increasing frequency, folks have been ending their lives with the 186' plunge off these spans.
Chesapeake Bay Bridge
Forecast for October 25, 2011 was 70 degrees, blue skies and winds out of the West 10-15 knots. So...should I spend the day working on the master bath renovation or go sailing? This picture tells the answer.
The brdge structure to the right is the orginal two lane span that opened in 1952 and at the time was the world's longest continuous over-water steel structure. The parallel span to the left opened in 1973.
In my high school years, on a Summer's Sunday evening, sometimes it was up to 6 hours of stop and go traffic heading West towards the bridge approach after a weekend in Ocean City Maryland. The three lane second span eliminated the long waits.
The first span was considered a strategic asset by the Defense Department thus at the Western end of this bridge was a 24 acre site with a battery of Nike missles. These were expected to shoot down Russian bombers before they could drop the bridge or bomb Washington and Baltimore. Per documents declassifed in the late 1970s, the Nike missles may have carried nuclear warheads. Today the missles are long gone and the site is now Sandy Point state park.
Regrettably and with increasing frequency, folks have been ending their lives with the 186' plunge off these spans.