Yesterday we drove over the Mackinaw Bridge that connects the two parts of Michigan and is the dividing line between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. on our way to Sault Ste. Marie. This bridge has a story of its own, and we’ll talk about it in a future post.
The road deck is shaped as an airfoil to provide lift in a cross wind, and the center 2 lanes are open grid to allow vertical (upward) air flow, basically canceling the lift, making the roadway stable in design in winds of up to 150 miles per hour.
We drove an hour north to Sault Ste. Marie, the city that houses the locks between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. Canada is just on the northern side of the locks. These locks allow bulk transport freighters carrying iron ore, etc., to go from Duluth, Minnesota, through the Great Lakes to the manufacturing cities further east, and then back to Duluth.
This first picture is an overview of the locks. The U.S. is on the left, and Canada is on the right. The lock on the far left is now used for the longest ships that navigate the Great Lakes.
Some locks are small, but the lock closest to us can handle ships 1000-feet long!
On the following pictures, watch the amount of blue hull showing as the ship has to be raised 21 feet so it can enter Lake Superior. It takes a long time for the ship to navigate the locks, but it is amazing to watch.
