And the Star of the Show Is... - Saturday, August 22, 2020

Saturday afternoon turned out to be a perfect time to take on the 10k Tacoma Narrows Bridge Volksmarch. Because the original starting point was closed due to COVID-19, we had to contact one of the walk club members to email the directions to us. We were able to park in the parking lot of the closed business while we walked, however. 

The first part of this walk goes along a very busy street for a few blocks. We were happy to finally turn into a quiet neighborhood! It seemed a lot of the housing along here was for retired people or those in assisted living. It was a nice area without a lot of traffic. 

The neighborhood in which we walked.

Golf Highlands 9-hole course.

We continued through neighborhoods until we came out on Jackson St. (Heading down the bike path to Jackson St., we made a snack of ripe blackberries along the trail.)

We crossed the bridge over Hwy. 16 and made our way to the bike/pedestrian path over the newer Tacoma Narrows Bridge. There are two bridges, side-by-side, one old and one new. The bridges are the stars of this walk! 

I would not be a good blog reporter if I did not tell you the history of the original bridge over the Tacoma Narrows. [NOTE: That bridge was replaced by the old bridge in my photos, and the new bridge was built in 2007.] This quote comes from a historical marker in a park in Gig Harbor: 

"The bridging of The Narrows was a turning point in the history of the peninsula. For residents, it ended generations of isolation and heralded much-desired economic growth. For the military, it connected McChord Air Field, south of Tacoma. to the Navy shipyard in Bremerton--an important link considering the war in Europe. Construction on the bridge began in November 1938. Opening day was July 1, 1940. The cost was $6.4 million, to be repaid through tolls. 

Galloping Gertie

"Less than two months before the opening, bridge workers noticed the deck's vertical motion, or 'bounce.' Several stabilization devices were installed on the bridge. The roadway often bounced or rippled in a light wind. 'Waves' of 2 to 3 feet would undulate from one end of the center span to the other, earning the bridge its nickname, Galloping Gertie. There seemed to be no correlation between wind speed and size of the waves. Sometimes the waves lasted for eight hours. Drivers crossing the span at times saw a car in front of them disappear, reappearing moments later.

The Collapse

"During the morning of November 7, 1940, the bridge deck was bouncing 3 to 5 feet in winds of 35 to 46 miles per hour. Officials closed the bridge at 10:00 a.m., only minutes after Leonard Coatsworth paid his toll. As he drove across, the decking began to twist. The twisting grew stronger and span movement went from 5-foot to 28-foot undulations.

"The road tilted sideways and threw Coatsworth's car against the curb. He climbed through an open window landing on the roadway. Tubby the dog, Coatsworth's only companion in the car, wouldn't budge. Coatsworth crawled and stumbled toward the Tacoma end of the span.

"At about 10:30 a.m. the center span began breaking up. At 11:02 a.m., 600 feet of the span twisted and flipped over, and plunged into the water, taking the car and Tubby with it. Several minutes later the remainder of the center span ripped free and thundered down into the water. It would take 10 years before another bridge could be built across The Narrows.

"Gertie became famous as the most dramatic failure in bridge engineering history. The collapse changed forever how engineers design suspension bridges, leading to the safer spans we use today. The sunken remains of the bridge were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992."

For the 10k walk, we went to the middle of the span and turned around. [If we wanted to make it a 12k walk, we could have gone all the way across and back.]

The bridge is high above the water and has lots of noisy traffic. The redeeming quality of this walk is the view. Wow! We saw sailboats, motorboats, and wildlife.

Take a look at these photos. [NOTE: We are so happy we did this walk before all the smoke coming north from the California and Oregon wildfires messed up the views!]

Tacoma Narrows Bridges
from Jackson Ave. overpass.

Bob as we started across the newer bridge.

View of Puget Sound.

Such cool photo ops!

Tacoma Narrows and the Puget Sound.

Sun reflecting off the water.

This is a great walk!

The bridge towers.

Sun sparkles and a sailboat.

At the bridge half-way point (we
 turned around here for the 10k).

Bob on the way back. 

Looking toward University Place,
Washington.

Old span.

New span.

It was right around here on our way back that we saw wildlife! I do not have photographic evidence because I could not find the subjects way down in the water in my viewfinder. We saw a big sea otter and a pod of dark gray porpoises. The porpoises are smaller and darker than any dolphins we've ever seen. We described them to a local and they told us we saw porpoises, not dolphins. At first, I thought the sea otter was a sea lion because it was pretty big. Bob said, no, he saw it clearly and it had PAWS. Sea lions do not have paws!

Looking out over the Puget Sound.

Bob wanted a photo of the train below us.

Blackberry blossoms (late bloomers!).

Entering Tacoma.

The rose hips look very healthy.

We walked through War Memorial Park. 

"I pledge allegiance..."

Across from War Memorial Park is a
small theater. I like the art on the side.

Pretty mural on this shop. 

After walking along another major street or two, we made our way back to the parking lot where we started. Thank you Evergreen Wanderers! We loved the walk. By the way, the YMCA is open again!

[NOTE: A suggestion to the local club who created this walk...it would be great to offer a 6k walk that is only War Memorial Park and across the bridge and back. The current 6k walk does not go on the bridge. You may have people who only want to do a 6k, but want the bridge, not the neighborhoods. It seems like an easy walk to set up. Have people drive from the sign-in spot to War Memorial Park and start walking from the park.]

Keep up the good work. We love doing the walks.