READING FURTHER
The Doomed Bridge Called Galloping Gertie The Tacoma Narrows Bridge opened in the summer of 1940. By autumn of the same year, it fell apart and crashed into the water beneath it. What role do you think the energy of wind and the transmission of waves played in this engineering disaster? Puget Sound is a body of water in the northwestern corner of the United States in Washington. Traveling from one side of the Sound to the other was not convenient in the early 1900s. Travelers going between the Olympic Peninsula and the cities of Seattle and Tacoma had to take a long drive around the Sound or a costly ferry ride across it. People suggested building a bridge across a part of the Sound called Tacoma Narrows. Here the distance across the Sound
The Tacoma Narrows Bridge was built to provide a quick route across the Puget Sound. Excited travelers lined up to cross the bridge on its opening day in 1940.
narrows to less than 1.6 km wide. The location is also just south of Tacoma, a major city. A bridge at the Tacoma Narrows would cut travel across the Sound by more than 100 km for some trips. But could they build a bridge across such deep water and swift tides? Construction on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge did not begin until the late 1930s. Before that time, it was hard to convince many people that reducing travel time justified the high cost of a bridge. Then World War II began heating up, and a short route between military facilities on opposite sides of the Sound became a priority. Plans to build the bridge were put into action. Engineering teams submitted their possible designs. Decision makers chose the design that cost the least to build. Was this a good choice? Even though some people expressed concerns about that particular design, construction on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge began in 1938. On July 1, 1940, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge opened to public traffic with great fanfare. Over 7,000 people came to celebrate, and cars lined up to cross the bridge.
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Lesson 4