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This flexibility was experienced by the builders and workmen during construction, which led some of the workers to christen the bridge "Galloping Gertie". The nickname soon stuck, and even the public (when the toll-paid traffic started) felt these motions on the day that the bridge opened on July 1, 1940.
Historically, the name "Tacoma Narrows Bridge" has applied to the original bridge, nicknamed "Galloping Gertie", which opened in July 1940 but collapsed possibly because of aeroelastic flutter four months later, as well as to the successor of that bridge, which opened in 1950 and still stands today as the westbound lanes of the present-day two ...
However, some elements of Galloping Gertie were incorporated into the 1950 span. The tower pedestals were enlarged and raised 17 feet (5.2 m). On the west end stood a 450-foot (140 m) long approach viaduct with the same 8-foot (2.4 m) deep girders Gertie's main deck had.
The 2,800-foot-long (850 m) bridge, christened the name "Galloping Gertie" by its construction workers, cost $6.4 million to build and became the third longest suspension span in the world after its completion. [55] [56] The following day, the art deco MV Kalakala was chosen to make the commemorative final ferry crossing of the Tacoma Narrows. [57]
The bridge had been nicknamed "Galloping Gertie" by local residents because of its tendency to sway with the slightest breeze, and these appear to have been gale force winds. The film was used in newsreels, has been featured in university lectures for decades, and joined the National Film Registry list of important American cinema.
The motion of the bridge earned it the name Galloping Gertie. The dramatic film of the bridge's collapse, as a twisting motion added to the stress of longitudinal waves along the span, is still shown to engineering, architecture, and physics students as a good example of torsional flutter gone awry.
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Became known as "Galloping Gertie", in the first 4 months after opening up until its collapse under aeroelastic flutter. Most major new bridges are now modelled in wind tunnels. Rebuilt in 1950; parallel span opened in 2007. Theodor Heuss Bridge: Ludwigshafen: Germany 12 December 1940: Bridge of concrete, Motorway bridge Collapsed during ...