It’s been featured on the History Channels’ Modern Marvels TV show, Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs has spent a day climbing its suspension cables, and most recently, Governor Gretchen Whitmer used it front and center in her campaign logo for Governor. The Mackinac Bridge is one of Michigan’s most iconic symbols and has been featured in many mediums. Serving as a connection between our two pennisulas, it’s a hotbed of activity during the summer months as tourists from all over the world travel north to vacation on some of the most beautiful land in the world.

The bridge is the longest suspension bridge anywhere in the Western Hemisphere. Its main span is 3,800 feet and has a distance of five-miles from shoreline-to-shoreline. While an old friend to many Michigan residents today, the early history of the bridge started when three railroads formed the Mackinac Transportation Company to operate a railroad car ferry service across the straits of Mackinac. In the 1920’s the ferry service had expanded to automobiles and was carrying up to 9,000 vehicles per day across the water.

In 1934, the Michigan Legislature formally created the Mackinac Straits Bridge Authority to explore constructing a bridge. With the Great Depression and World War II impacting our country, both funding and construction of the bridge was delayed. Finally, in 1953, a design engineer was appointed, and the total cost of the bridge was estimated at $95 million. Construction began May 7, 1954 and it officially opened to traffic, on schedule, on November 1, 1957.

Over 150 million vehicles have crossed the bridge since its opening in 1957. If you’re headed north this summer to visit pictured rocks, Marquette or taking a wilderness trip at Isle Royal National Park, make sure to take in the one of the most breathtaking five-mile stretches of road in the country, from Mackinac City to St. Ignace on the “Mighty Mac.”

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