Many of you live on the west side of Washington and are familiar with the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. The bridge crosses the Puget Sound between Tacoma and the Kitsap Peninsula. The state built the original bridge to help connect Tacoma to the navel ship yards in Bremerton along with McChord Field and Fort Lewis.
When the bridge opened in July 1940 it was the third longest suspension bridge in the world, behind the Golden Gate Bridge and the George Washington Bridge in New York.
But even during construction, workers were aware of how the wind played havoc with the road bed. In fact, they nicknamed the bridge “Galloping Gertie.” The name stuck. Four months later, on a windy November day, the bridge did a twisted, roller coaster dance before it collapsed into the water.
